tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8561209253464577539.post3730877035878842570..comments2024-03-28T15:39:27.271+05:30Comments on View from [Greater] Kailash: IS THE INDIAN VOTER A MORON ?Avay Shuklahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02928879917197239026noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8561209253464577539.post-18147407007512040152014-04-02T18:53:52.433+05:302014-04-02T18:53:52.433+05:30To respond to your queries, Sandip:
(a) The histor...To respond to your queries, Sandip:<br />(a) The historical fact of voters supporting all kinds of crooks on caste and community lines is due to the following factors:[1] Lack of any alternative( since all political parties do the same).[ii] Inability of the law to weed out such persons from the electoral process.[iii] the fear factor( which is very real in the rural areas). But as I stated in my blog, these three forces are weakening with every election; alternatives are now emerging, such as the AAP, and better still even the mainstream parties are being forced to change; the first step in disqualifying convicted criminals has been taken by the Supreme Court which ruled last year that a convicted person cannot stand for election, and if elected will be disqualified, unless his conviction is stayed by a higher court; the fear factor is also weakening with intense media coverage, better deployment of police. Once the criminals' presence in the elections is reduced this influence will further weaken.<br />(b) Convicted criminals are already excluded from the process as stated above.Incidentally, this is already having a salutary effect in the current elections: parties are having to think twice before giving ticket to a person against whom charges are pending, in case he is convicted at a later date and is then disqualified! I meant to go beyond this: debar even those against whom CHARGES HAVE BEEN FRAMED BY A COURT. A court frames charges only if the evidence establishes that a prima facie case is made out. That is good enough to debar such dubious individuals. Remember, contesting elections is not a fundamental right acc to our constitution and therefore reasonable restrictions can be placed on it. Too much is being made of the defence of political vendetta: firstly, since all parties are equally vulnerable to such vendetta they may actually stop this practice now! Secondly, the Rep. Of People Act already lays down the type of offences which can attract the penalty of disqualification and cases registered in the course of normal political agitations/ protests do not fall under such sections. In fact, I would go even further: all members of the immediate family of the convicted person should also be debarred. Harsh, I admit, but peculiar situations call for peculiar solutions: given how politics is a family business in India( remember Lalu making Rabri Devi the CM when he went to jail?) this stranglehold has to be broken. We can revert to more civilised Westminister type behaviour when we have cleaned out the country( still better than having to behead a King to achieve this!)Avay Shuklahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02928879917197239026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8561209253464577539.post-76641470535857878342014-03-31T23:08:20.535+05:302014-03-31T23:08:20.535+05:30Great points, Avay (as usual.) A couple of commen...Great points, Avay (as usual.) A couple of comments:<br />(a) Most Indian voters aren't morons of course, though given our high illiteracy and lack of awareness,many may be ill-informed and easily led astray. Worse, an even higher proportion may prioritize parochial, caste or ethnic factors to support otherwise undesirable candidates who they simply perceive as helpful to their particular demographic. That can explain bandits and murderers who get elected. Even in our relatively clean HP state we've seen voters elect crooked MLAs who they thought were influential enough to pull funds and jobs to that constituency. It's a "prisoner's dilemma" situation where the overall effect may be to get a fragmented collection of bad leaders. I don't know of good answer to this, or whether a direct presidential election a la USA would help. <br />(b) Did you mean barring candidates from contesting elections who are convicted or serious crimes, or even those with serious criminal charges pending against them? The latter can create its own problems if crooked politicians in power get to eliminate worthy opponents through trumped up charges.SandipMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04721935576457691892noreply@blogger.com