Election lessons I have learnt

My communicative begins with my candidature successful the 1984 Lok Sabha election. I person contested 8 LS elections and won seven. I person conducted galore elections earlier and aft my ain elections. I inactive broadly oversee elections successful my district.

Times person changed

There was a clip erstwhile a face, connection oregon motion was capable to triumph elections. No longer. There was a clip erstwhile a campaigner secured the enactment of a caste person oregon leaders, that was capable to triumph the votes of the bulk of that caste. No longer.

There was a clip erstwhile a manifesto was irrelevant. No longer. There was a clip erstwhile the connection ‘narrative’ had not been discovered by governmental parties. That word, with its galore nuances, is the ascendant connection successful modern-day elections.

Megaphones, microphones, posters, pamphlets, flags and festoons that were the ammunition successful elections are obsolete. The caller arms and ammunition are the societal media, tv advertisements, fake news, and a disgraceful signifier called ‘packages’, commonly known arsenic ‘paid news’. Thankfully, immoderate newspapers support their integrity. I americium acrophobic newspapers whitethorn go irrelevant successful elections successful 10 years.

Some constants

I person been a witnesser to the melodramatic changes successful the predetermination country implicit 50 years but immoderate things are changeless and volition beryllium enduring, albeit with refinement. For a governmental party, immoderate constants are:

City, territory and subordinate committees: A party’s nationalist committee unsocial that whitethorn conscionable erstwhile successful 3 months is not sufficient. City, district, block, ward and colony committees are indispensable creatures whose hearts indispensable bushed 24 hours a day. What volition you accidental astir a governmental enactment if it did not represent oregon name city, territory oregon subordinate committees for galore years? I would accidental that the governmental enactment exists lone arsenic a conceptual thought successful that state.

Inclusive policies and practices: While astir each governmental parties preach and usually signifier inclusiveness successful rank and practice successful enforcement bodies of the party, they falter during the enactment of candidates. In the garb of ‘winnability’, they often exclude candidates belonging to a rival faction oregon a definite caste. Pre-supposing that a definite caste volition enactment the enactment oregon a definite caste volition enactment the rival enactment volition skew the enactment of candidates successful favour of 1 caste and marginalise the other. My acquisition is that the clasp of caste successful elections has considerably weakened successful successive elections. When it comes to women, the bias is successful favour of a antheral campaigner successful practically each spot connected the specious statement of ‘winnability’.

Enforcing Discipline: Discipline breaks down successful each enactment astatine the clip of elections. Working against the campaigner is common. Rebel candidates, immoderate planted by a rival faction, are the caller and increasing threats. The fig of votes secured by the rebel campaigner — sometimes pushing the authoritative campaigner to the 3rd oregon 4th spot — usually proves that the ‘rebel’ was the preferred campaigner of the party’s workers. Analysis of information showed that, successful a authorities assembly election, a governmental enactment mislaid up to 17 seats due to the fact that of the beingness of rebel candidates.

Booth committees: Few governmental parties person progressive booth committees. The pioneers were the DMK and AIADMK. Lately, with the enactment of the RSS, the BJP tried to transcript the Dravidian parties and achieved immoderate success. Booth committees unsocial tin canvass for votes successful the past thigh of an predetermination and mobilise voters connected polling day. A enactment that failed to deploy booth committees volition suffer the votes of imaginable supporters.

Election Management: A idiosyncratic who had ne'er contested an predetermination oregon who had seldom won an predetermination volition beryllium the worst predetermination in-charge. An predetermination in-charge indispensable beryllium consenting to beryllium physically contiguous successful the authorities for six months earlier the polling date; beryllium technologically knowledgeable; beryllium escaped of immoderate caste oregon sex bias; and person the authorization and quality to mollify rebels. There are immoderate leaders crossed parties who fitted the bill, but galore fell short. A know-all in-charge is worse than having none.

Money: Money is an important but not the determining factor. Distribution of wealth is simply a full discarded due to the fact that the rival candidates volition besides administer money. The amended usage of wealth volition beryllium connected societal media expenditure and leaving a small wealth with booth committees for last-day booth management. Most candidates assertion to person exhausted their budget earlier the predetermination day.

Final lesson: A winnable predetermination tin beryllium mislaid if a governmental enactment has not learnt the lessons of elections.