Indian Electoral system and the expectations of the people!

The Electoral system in India and the contribution of politicians to the country- A debate is long felt on the above topic. With enormous money and muscle power, political parties in India competes the elections baring very few newly formed parties. It is still a mystery that Narendra Modi has been pushed to the front by the smart moves of the RSS and a coterie of BJP leaders. None was aware of the deft moves behind the scenes. Even senior leaders were kept in the dark. It was systematic. Each move has taken place with utmost caution. First, he was projected as the leader of the election committee. In a few days, he was announced as the Prime Minister candidate. Lot of hue and cry happened but the leaders were able to silence the dissensions. Everyone in the party is aware of the ambition of L.K.Advani to done the PM post once BJP wins comfortably. The dreams of seniors like MM.Joshi, Jaswant Singh and Advani were shattered once Rajnath Singh announced the name of Modi as the PM candidate. No doubt there was sulking. But Advani was pacified by RSS chief. Probably he was told that the party is higher than individuals!

No choice was given to the leaders to select their respective constituencies from where they will fight. In fact, the shuffling had a mischievous hand of Modi. Every time, the will of Modi prevailed. The senior leaders resigned to their fate ultimately praising Modi as the best suited and talented etc., this was the sorry state of leaders with Modi as the commander. It was all along a ‘one man show’. None was invited to canvass for Modi whereas Modi travelled through the length and breadth of the country addressing thousands of meetings in the past nine months. This was really a great show by Modi, the one up man show. None raised their voice and even if they have spoken, their voices have become muff. None knew the magic wand with which Modi wielded such gigantic influence all over the country. The entire media was hired by him to play Modi music. It was not a party manifesto but it was “Modifesto” as one TV news channel depicted. It is doubtful whether people chanted the names of the god through the past few weeks. It was the chant of Modi. People were mesmerized and stupefied by the Modi wave or Modi Tsunami. Neither he is friendly with anybody except the coterie of three or four to say. It is still a point of debate that in a democratic country like India, people were brainwashed systematically by the media networks.

Contrary to the above, the performance of leaders of the ruling Congress in the electioneering is negligible. Only certain leaders like Mamata Banarjee and BSP chief Mayavati raised their voice against Modi. In UP, the government of SP headed by Akilesh Yadav was in a sorry state after the poor performance for the past two years. Mayavati took this to the election plank. She had the backing of Dalits. However the BJP under Modi has made lot of inroads in several pockets of UP and they are sure to gain around 40 seats in UP alone. Rajasthan, Madhyapradesh and Delhi is a cake walk for them. In addition BJP ruled states of Gujarat and Chattisgarh is sure to return the party with a thumping majority. The only doubtful states are Tamilnadu, Andhra, Kerala, Orissa and Haryana. It is not easy to predict the fate of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Hence Modi may get around 40% of total seats in Parliament which is around 230. Congress may not get even half the figure of BJP. The regional parties in South like AIADMK, DMK and Telugu Desam, BJD in Orissa, RJD in Bihar are some of the parties which may gain in this election.

Now let us analyze the contribution of the parties in power to the Nation as a whole. The performance of past government is dismal. Power mongering, corruption and nepotism have dented the image of Congress. In Gujarat, where Modi is presently Chief Minister for the third consecutive time has shown development in infrastructure and self-sufficiency in energy. But this is the case of urban Gujarat. But rural Gujarat has many lacunas and there is poverty and farmer’s suicides in several pockets. Modi has not tackled those problems. He was friendly to Corporates and Industrialists who favors him with election funds. Electronic media has hyped the candidature of Modi above all the leaders. His success is sure. But the number of seats overall he gains decides his PM ambition.

In India, rural population is around 70%. Merely improving the condition of urban landscape does not contribute to overall welfare of all people. There is lot to achieve in food security, guarantee for employment, basic health, drinking water and shelter. Only selfless leaders can contribute to the overall welfare of all the people. The fate of future India depends upon honest rulers who are elected by the people. But people have no choice except to choose one among the many contenders. If you are not willing to vote to any, you have the choice to press the NOTA button (none of the above). People vote to candidates. The parties which gain majority of seats form the government. Hence this sort of electoral system is not fool proof to realize the ambition of the people.