‘Low voter turnout a threat to India's democracy'
Elections are the biggest source of corruption in the country. When a candidate spends Rs. 5 crore to Rs.10 crore for getting elected, the first thing he does is call officials and ask them how they're going to help him recover his expenditure.
This was stated by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi here on Monday.
Mr. Quraishi was speaking at a special meeting called to ask for the media's help to boost voter awareness.
The Election Commission had made significant progress in making the electoral process more transparent, but only a vigilant electorate could stamp out corruption, he noted.
Mr. Quraishi said low voter turnout had emerged as a fundamental threat to the country's democracy. “If 30 per cent of people vote and one of them wins with 12 per cent of that, both the quality of the representation and the legitimacy of governance will suffer.”
To boost voter participation, the Commission had taken slew of measures such as appointment of community-based booth liaison officers, hand-delivery of voter slips prior to the election day and running of awareness campaigns in the media, he said.
These measures had helped bring about a record voter turnout of 84 per cent in Tamil Nadu and ensured a steady improvement in electoral participation across the last seven elections.
“I am particularly pleased we have succeeded in making sure more women than ever are voting. In Bihar, there were more women voters than men. We have also added 3.8 crore in the 18-19 age-group to the electoral rolls through special campaigns, which means about 35 per cent of this age-group are now registered to vote,” he said.
However, Mr. Quraishi pointed out that voters in most cities other than Kolkata and Chennai remained apathetic. “People in urban areas incessantly complain about how corrupt their politicians are, but won't queue up to vote and choose better ones,” he added.
Comments:
Three questions: Q1.How much of the apparent 'voter apathy' is due to 'lack of choice of candidates'? Q2. How much of that is due to the 'unbelievably high cost of entry to stand as a candidate' that the Commissioner has alluded to? Q3. What steps have been taken to 'limit election spending', 'disqualify candidates with high expenditure' and, to 'publicly fund election campaigns'?
Elections are the biggest source of corruption in the country. When a candidate spends Rs. 5 crore to Rs.10 crore for getting elected, the first thing he does is call officials and ask them how they're going to help him recover his expenditure.The above statement is GOSPEL TRUTH which is known to every one in India.
Corruption has become part and parcel of life and there can be no denying. What is it that can be done. The country is awaiting with bated breath to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi for doing the needful service to our country
CEC Mr.Quraishi words are to be taken seriously both by government and public in order to improve the system called democracy. Doubling the polling booths will also help improve the voter participation. Maintaining voter list correctly free from defects and periodical updating is paramount. Voter list verifiers are not doing their job properly & efficiently and this must be made strong & efficient for democracy to flourish.
Mr Quraishi has hit the nail at the right place.One of the major
reasons of corruption & black money in India, is the astonishing
regularity with which elections are conducted in all 28 states & 7
UTs.It never seems to end.Every year,somewhere or the other, elections
are on, with unscrupulous elements thriving on this phenomenon.In
fact, this is now become a 'blue chip' industry.The system needs a
surgical strike & a legal remedy.The candidates out for electioneering are mere nominees of the subject political parties. They do not represent the constituencies/masses.The 'TICKET ' system must be abolished.The candidates must openly contest from Panchayat upwards to reach their constituencies.Today, no qualifications for MPs & MLAs are fixed.Out of 545 MPs ,21 are defending lawsuits,71 cannot get loans,29 accused of spouse abuse,7 arrested for fraud,19 in more than 3 criminal cases pending,117 charged & investigated for murder,rape,extortion, robbery ,etc,84 paid fines.MERA BHARAT MAHAN!
He didn't mention another big problem - that of security. In rural and
(?) semi-rural areas where the local security is at best a joke, party
workers openly threaten election observers with retaliation when the
elections are over and the spotlight shifts away from them. That should
be looked into. The number of booths must be increased and age-based
time slots introduced to cut down on waiting time, make the procedure
more attractive and counter the evergreen problem of false voters.
Procurement of voter cards must also be sped up.
Voting should made mandatory and compulsory. Those not able to cast their votes can be fined to raise revenue for the CEC. Intially lot of money can be raised until people start participating. Income Tax deparment need to roped find the source of black money that funds the elcetions. Politicians are not going to support this suggestion of mine that is only problem here.
Queueing time requires to be reduced to the minimum-preferably under 15 minutes.
High time personal and party expenses are controlled in the real sense.The All India Radio and the Doordarshan should be mandatory for all to connect to the voters.
The election commission should not waste money on propaganda and
awareness programs. Instead they should make it easy for an individual
to obtain a voter ID card. Now getting a voter ID card is the most
difficult job and I know how many trips one has to make for this and
stand in lengthy lines. Who will go and do this as the individual is not
going to be benefited in any way. So to make them vote ID Card should be
made available to them instead of asking each one to go and get it.
Am really glad about the way our CEC, and the Commission itself, is
functioning now. There are hopes for us yet. But, ‘Low voter turnout
is JUST ONE threat to India's democracy' is how I will put it. We
read daily, as to how Undemocratic methods of influencing the Public
is going on in Punjab, through Cash, Drinks and horror of horrors,
Drugs being given out to woo voters. With voters so ready to be
influenced by these kind of things, how can we say that mere numbers
will bring in True Democracy? EDUCATING the voter is needed.
Countries like china do it through brain washing. What we need is to
use our Media, the AIR and the Door-Darshan, to better effect.
When political parties select persons with doubtful integrity & tainted images,how educated mass will vote them? "Choosing better ones", bad amongst worst makes no sense, rather adding fuel to fire. No political party can dare to select honest candidates devoted for the Nation.Even most of them get more salary proportionate to their education/qualification and service render, from public money,they are not public servants.They are masters and spread the seeds of corruption in all walks of life.Even Senior officers ,most educated & civilized citizens, forget their work ethics to be slaves of highly paid public representatives.
I completely agree with CEC S.Y.Quraishi statement "low voter turnout as
functional threat to our country's democracy".I truly appreciate efforts
made by CEC to increase voter turnout. Low voter turn out is not only a
result of lack of proper awareness in rural areas but also due to
deletion of names just before the polls. I personally experienced this
kind of situation. Two of my friends could not exercise their vote as
their names were deleted in electoral list even though they had voter id
card. CEC should make efforts in this direction.
Introduce Right to Reject.If Rejection Vote is Highest/greater than next highest voted candidate all candidates should reject and fresh election with new Candidates should be held with a Gap of atleast 3 months. Once after investing 5/10 crore each time people reject them than the party would be forced to select candidates with clean character.
Mr Quareshi,it is very pleasing to see you voicing your concern about a situation arising from less than half of eligible voters discharging their duty to participate in the democracy.Well it would be more meaningfull if you send your suggestion recomending need to bring legislation for Mandatory Voting by all eligible voters,the details whatsoever to be taken care off. ANOTHER reform that too you have been expressedly opposed in the past is regarding State Financing of all election expenses, thereby making financial rich & criminals the only ones eligible to contest.
We should take help of technology to achieve larger participation. We can introduce i-voting just like i-banking so that people don't have to queue up and can exert their right from anywhere even if they are away from their home station.
Second suggestion being no party system, since party system forces elected representatives to follow the diktats of few chosen ones running the party and giving tickets and issuing whip for any issue. It scuttles the independence of the candidate. There should be wide participation of candidates with clear stand on various issues which they should state in public fora organised by the state expenses and no campaigning on personal level should be allowed. Preliminary voting should be a guide to select top 2-3 candidates for final voting. The selected candidates then become actually accountable to the electorate and choose their leader from amongst themselves for the post of PM or CM who has the liberty to choose his team for effective results.
CEC summed up nicely the present election process in the country.It is a vicious circle starting with bribing the voters spending enoromous amount of money in elections and then finding ways to get back the money spent on elections and getting more and preparing for the next elections.Where the hell there is time for the elected representatives to think about people there may be exceptions for this type of politicians but they are very few and i feel they may too stop contesting elections with this type of scenario.Corruption is total with this type of system in place as CES said it is the vigilent voter who should desist taking money but it is asking too much from them because this is the only time when the politician cares for them and they cannot afford to miss this opportunity.Corruption in elections involves all we cannot forget the role of media and the paid news corruption which runs into crores of rupeees.Every one loves a good election as Sainath exposed the paid news menace.
This is absolutely true. It is like paying few lakhs of rupees to get a job as police constable and first thing he does is to look for ways to recover the money. The Election Commission should create an awareness of this among voters and dissuade them to accept money and vote for the party that pays them. Alternatively they should accept money and vote for the party who is not paying them the money. In this process, the money swindled by the political parties comes back to people ! The person bribing the voters also get defeated. I understand that in States like Tamil Nadu, the candidates carry the pictures of all Hindu God/Goddesses and after paying the bribe to the voter, asks him/her which God he believes most - it may be Lord Murugua or Ayyappan. Then they keep that picture in front of the voter and lit a lamp and ask him to swear / promise before that picture that he would only vote for him. Such is the way they exploit the religious sentiments. In all, these politicians are incorrigible crooks and difficult to change. But only the Election Commission should take the lead and try their best to change the situation gradually.
Along with party candidates ,Election commision should also select best retiered officers, advocates, docters, I.A.S, I.P.S and others as Election comissions canditate for All elections, to avoid corruption
Election Commission should first ensure that only the clean image people could stand for election. Any candidate who spends huge money (say, more than 10 lakhs) to lure people shoud lose his candidature, even if he gets elected. It is a shame and national disgrace to fill our parliament and assemblies with criminals and looters, who are solely responsble for destroying the democratic spirit in our country. Find out the source of black money in voting business and make arrangement to severely punish the culprits in public to deter them froming carrying out immoral and illegal activities. If politicians want to serve the nation, then why do they use money and muscle?
Oh you the great media tell me who is honest in politics....All candidates are corrupt and first thing they do after getting elected is getting themselves rich,loot their constituent treasury, getting their sons and relatives in govt jobs etc etc. I as a citizen of india will never ever vote to so called democracy which is only for politicians and rich and corrupt. We as a tax payer need to know where the money is going into,all the politicians including media are responsible for the pathetic conditions of our country. Tell us our great media " You reports scams, corruptions etc...but where is the scammed money gone? Have media ever reported back saying crores of 2g scam money has retrieved back! Nooo! "
Drastic changes in the concerned laws are needed to curb the menace. No cosmetic changes are going to work. One, make voting compulsory for every eligible voter (even if this will affect the voter's right to vote or not vote - find some way to get over this). Two,funding of the elections bythe Govt. Three, specify a minimum qualification for the candidates (again at the cost of violating the fundamental right - again find some way to get over it). Four,bar anyone with criminal record (not conviction, but even a criminal complaint pending) from contesting. Five, curtail ugly display of money power - campaining should be through the spoken and written media in this age of high tech communication facilities. No public meetings, processions, poster-wars to be allowed. Let us be a civilised society, doing this important duty quietly, decently and properly.
Dear CEC, as per your words we are ready to queue up to choose the better ones. but in case no one fits the criteria in the candidate list at least we should be able to vote to 49(O) without asking for forms and exercise the option in EVM.
Any govt servent/employee,or authority who eyes for post retirement rehabilitation of any form from the party in power is also deemed as indulging in corrupt practice as any such idea in the mind of the person would affect the impartial/rightful discharge of duties during his term and prone to be biased in favour of such party in power. e.g.overing mayavathi sttues/elephant statues in U.P. during state elections 2012.
We are ready to vote provided the powers given to a winning politicians will be determined by the people. He should not be allowed to exercise his powers with asking the people as it has been stated that our government is "By the people and for the people". After winning a election, the politician is free to do whatever he wants, which should not be. He has to obtain prior permission from the people of his constituency while performing his duties, after all he is people's representative and he is meant to work in this way.
System should be made by which citizens could vote from the Net & without queue. Then only you can expect the high turnout & also proper representation.
I'm glad someone - and someone who should know- has bluntly exposed the hypocrisy of democracy in our country. Money and caste determine who wins and who loses elections, nothing else. We must have the option on voter machines to reject all the candidates. If the 'None of the above' vote is large enough it will send the strongest message possible to all parties that there is something fundamentally wrong in the whole system.
What a funny situation we all confronted with? CEC says that elections
contribute the black money and elected representatives first seek the
money which they have spent in contesting elections rather doing any
service to the people.
Dear CEC, your words are 100% true. Please ban any type of election campaign. Let the voters know about the contesting candidate with info about there professional and moral background. this may reduce noise pollution, unnecessary traffic during leader visit. Also people will try to know about the candidates...
Dear Mr. Quraishi, bring in Right to rejection then check out the turn around.