Elections are often seen as a sign of the times, a capture of the way society dealt with the important questions of that time. Do they have an enduring value, of signalling a moment in politics that affects events beyond the immediate? Rasheed Kidwai’s Ballot picks 10 era-defining elections, from the early 1950s, when India was a nascent democracy to the 2014 general election, when after 30 years of coalition politics, India saw a single party majority government at the Centre.
His list of key elections also touches on State polls, showing their relevance now. He examines, for instance, the dramatic rise of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1982-83 as a strong regional force in Andhra Pradesh that ended Congress dominance. This reminds us of the troubles within the National Democratic Alliance now, where the TDP has severed ties with the BJP, and yet distancing itself from the Congress, the reason for its birth. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent speech in Parliament reminding these troubled allies of their founding anti-Congress principles is an occasion where elections mean much more than a change of government, including a break from patterns of political behaviour.
Kidwai highlights important elections, including Mamata Banerjee’s spectacular overthrow of the Left Front government in West Bengal, the formation of the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra in 1995 and of those habitual ‘independent’ candidates like Mohan Lal Dhartipakad and Kaka Joginder Singh, who have filed nominations for all elected positions from President to panchayat with no hope of being elected.
He, however, misses out on one important election, that of 1989, when Vishwanath Pratap Singh, with support from the BJP and the Left, formed the National Front government. That election ushered in the era of coalition politics for the next three decades. It also saw the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations and the rise of the Ram Janmabhoomi issue that still defines politics and elections in India.
Kidwai’s style is breezy, anecdotal and full of interesting bon mots, including the fact that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati was the first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh to complete a full five-year term, between 2007-2012.
The best chapter, however, is the one dealing with the two United Progressive Alliance governments that governed India between 2004-2014, of which the author had a ringside view.
The slim book with its descriptive account of India’s experience with electoral democracy illustrates the veracity of a comment in the Guardian after the 2004 election that saw the Congress come back to power: “The results were a complete surprise to everyone but the people who matter in an Indian election.”
Ballot: Ten Episodes That Have Shaped India’s Democracy ; Rasheed Kidwai, Hachette India, ₹399.
