Elections are celebrated as the festival
of democracy and the festival is around the corner. The Election Commission of
India has announced General Elections to the 17th Lok Sabha to be held next
month. The election process takes one and a half months for completion. In this
festival of democracy there is campaigning, nomination public meeting, voting
and counting.
The festival of democracy for the common
man ends the moment when the polling officer marks his finger with purple
silver nitrate. For the contestants the day of counting is the last day of the
festival, but for those who have won the contest it is a long festival
continuing till the end of the term probably for next five years. If the elected
candidate is serving the constituency well, then off course the electorates
also can celebrate the festival of democracy for the entire term. Nevertheless it
is a fun filled election.
The most amusing part at the election
time is the formation of alliance in the political circle. Parties who were
sworn enemies come along to contest the election together. Old enemies become
close friends and close friends break their decades of friendship. Next is the
manifesto of the parties, they promise unimaginable and unthinkable assurances.
Even the electorates know that those in the manifesto are just to make fool of the
voter. Without any ignominy the party which opposed a policy before will promise
to implement it if brought back to power.
It is so unfortunate that our
constitution allows parties to come together to form a coalition after the
results are announced. In my state Karnataka it was mockery of democracy last
year when the party which was placed second supported the third and offered the
Chief Ministership to stop the leading party from forming the Government. All
that we citizens of Karnataka could do was just watch the political circus as
the day of festival was over for us. Why not amend the constitution where the
post poll alliance is not entertained, in that way horse trading can also be controlled.
Election time the social media is used
and abused in many ways. The artists who are well versed in morphing and Photoshop
become active and create memes to target the candidates. A few sycophants post
videos on FaceBook and YouTube in which they warning and provoking the supports.
Not to be left out the Regional News Channels take the opportunity to air all
sorts of controversial statements made by either the candidate or his
supporters to grab TRP rating. Every other day a video or an audio clip is
beamed and debates and discussion are held on the issue, if the debate and
discussion were to be on electing the best candidate it would be better for the
electorates to decide. The New Channels to do not want people to know about the
candidate instead it searches for any misadventure to telecast.
It is a know secret that money flows
like river at the time of elections. The campaigning isn’t complete without a
huge amount of money spent. Though incumbent Government and Election
Commission spend considerable amounts to handle the process, the candidates and
political parties also spend heavily. There is an official limit for the
expenditure by a candidate during an election. However, there is no limit
for the expenditure incurred by the political parties. In a way, this
expenditure incurred by the candidates and political parties is welcomed by
general public as the ill-amassed black money gets circulated.
Vote cautiously to the party which walks
with all and stands for the welfare of all….. Let the celebrations be for
entire term of five years.
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