Level Playing Fields

 Level Playing Fields 

In a democracy, elections are a pivotal point in the life of an aspiring politician. Her social, political and even economic standing depends on the outcome of the election. Therefore, the 'animal spirits' of the political humans are in full roar. 

 

*"Model code of conduct" (a 312-page document for GE 2019, and 215 pages for GE 2024) and massive policing ‘bandobast’ and spends end up catching some 'freebies' and/or a slap on the wrist of erring politicos (friendly?). The punishment for a similar misbehaviour is wildly different depending on the stature and level of the offender. 

And many wide-eyed accounts of soaring election expenses by Candidates (in tens of Crores), by Political Parties (in thousands of Crores) and by Government and non-state actors (in hundreds of Crores) appear in the public domain: The Election commission in its wisdom tries to ensure a ‘level playing field’ by allowing an election expense of ₹95 Lakh per candidate for Lok Sabha and ₹40 Lakh for Vidhan Sabha. A small change!  

*And the cries for “level playing field’ become strident and shrill.

Recently, another element has been added this ‘cauldron’ viz. “loss of governance time’: A ‘High Level Committee’ of “High-Level Personages’ has been constituted to work on this oxymoron.  

 

*Shakespeare opined that “all the world’s a stage, and all the wo/men are but actors”. The Contestants in every ‘competitive’ human activity- sports, business, politics and all else, require a ‘level playing field’ for effective and beneficial ‘play’ of their capabilities.    

Most ‘stages’ in human affairs are naturally uneven; but the ‘wo/men in power’ are wont to design ‘rules’ that tilt the fields in their favour and dig holes to handicap the ‘others’.

 

*The Election Processes need an urgent reset ensuring that ‘We the People’ are enabled to elect a candidate worthy of our trust.  

Factory Reset 1.0: The Election Commission should first call for nominations to be completed by a given date. 

Reset 1.1: The EC after scrutiny and approval of nomination must announce the list of candidates for each of the constituencies, by day 30.

Reset 1.2 “We the People” will be duly informed the list of Candidates who are vying to win our trust, and their declared credentials, thru the local media. 

Reset 1.3: The district administration will organise 'Election Townhall' to educate the electorate. 

Reset 1.4: Panchayats will ensure that ~1,200 households under its jurisdiction (average for India) are well documented, enabling them to vote. 

  

Factory Reset 2.0:  On the 31st Day all nominated persons will be declared and addressed as "Candidate"; and all must resign their positions of power and profit.    

Reset 2.1: The President's Rule will be imposed and the Government will function with a council of Secretaries under leadership of the Cabinet Secretary. 

Reset 2.2: On the 31^st days the Election Schedule will be announced. 

 

Factory Reset 3.0:  The Candidates must return to their constituencies and must campaign only in her constituency and nowhere else, for next 30 days. 

Reset 3.1: Candidates may canvass and speak to their electorate from a common and same platform, as practiced in Mizoram. (Mizoram tops the “happiness index’ charts in India)

Reset 3:1 The ECI will schedule the voting and result days appropriately.

  

*The Book "Factory Reset of Governance Rules" -Democracy FOR the People, which is a 'business plan' for Good Governance, lays out resets to ensure that a candidate may hope to win the election by spending less than ₹ One Crore. 

And, the cost to the "Bhartiya Lok Nidhi" - the Consolidated Fund of India will be almost NIL. 

 

*The Economy may gainfully utilise additional ₹60K Crores to ₹70K Crores for uses that economically strengthen the Republic: Enabling it to move many citizens to economic security.

*More importantly, our ‘unshackled’ People’s Representatives will operate with adequate ‘degrees of freedom’ to discharge their compact with her constituents and her constitutional responsibilities: Enabling Bharat to take firm strides towards a “Khushhaal Bharat”.