OPINION> Commentary
India gears up for it's 15th general elections
By Swaran Singh
Updated: 2009-02-17 07:52

To be held within the coming 10 to 12 weeks, the 15th general elections for the lower house of Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha or People's House) are expected to involve about 700 million voters and 800,000 polling stations. The fact that about 100 million voters have been added to India's electorate in the past decade brings it a much younger profile. Put together with rising awareness and consumption levels, this is expected to change the tune and tenor of political participation this time around. Experts have been talking of class finally replacing caste calculations in Indian politics.

In terms of space and time, the conduct of these elections will be spread over two to three weeks of polling across India's widely varying geographic and climatic zones, from snow-capped mountains, tropical regions and deserts to tiny or sparsely populated islands in the Indian Ocean. More than that, this will involve about 10 weeks of very colorful and high-pitch electioneering which involves dance and music to spice speeches by politicians of all hues and also film actors, sportspersons and other celebrities contesting elections. Some constituencies will have hundreds of candidates contesting for a single seat while some candidates will contest multiple seats.

India's multi-party elections will include about 45 provincial and seven nationally recognized parties with official symbols of all kinds: an elephant, lotus, bicycle, mango, spectacles, arrow, hand pump, cart, torch, star, rising sun and lion.

And then, about a dozen other left-leaning parties will contest elections, while about two dozen others remain either on the fringes or do not believe in elections, the Naxals amongst these have since emerged a major force in the national reckoning.

The beginning of this exercise was marked last week by several events. India's Election Commission (a constitutional body) held its first brainstorming session with the representatives of all major political parties. While political parties expressed their views regarding the timing and phases of elections, the Chief Election Commission stressed the need for all Parties to observe the prescribed Model Code of Conduct (MCC), which includes avoiding communal overtones and the malpractice of misleading, threatening or bribing the electorate. It is also tailored to curb election expenses and surrogate advertisements.

Each candidate is expected not to spend more than $10,000, which has been conspicuous more for its breach in the past. Filing details of their expenses and ownership details have come to be widely respected.

India's main opposition party, the BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) held a two-day national executive meeting to outline its roadmap for the 15th general elections. The meeting was held at Nagpur (in Madhya Pradesh), the headquarters of its radical right-wing ally, the RSS (Rashtriya Sayamsevak Sangha).

Though this meeting had begun with a new slogan of 'change at the Center' (recall Obama), it also sought to emphasize the 'experience' of its prime ministerial candidate (L K Advani) against Congress Party's focus on younger leadership (Rahul Gandhi). However, this meeting soon slipped into BJPs' old and obscurantist rhetoric on Ram Temple. In spite of its cultural moorings, this formulation carries undertones of communalist politics and becomes retrograde at grass-root level.

This issue of Temple versus Mosque relates to a long-standing dispute over a mosque having been constructed after the demolition a Hindu temple during the Muslim rule in India about 300 years ago. It has rocked Indian politics since 1996 when the Mosque was in turn demolished, allegedly by BJP's cadres in broad daylight and in the presence of its prime ministerial candidate (L K Advani). Moreover, the BJP ruled that province at that time.

The issue increased BJP's visibility but its exposure has gradually subsided since the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's ascent to power in April 1999. BJPthen almost dropped off the radar when Congress-led United Progressive Alliance coming to power in May 2004. In addition to returning to the Temple issue, BJP has also slipped back into a negative campaign criticizing the ruling Congress party for being soft on Pakistan and for appeasing minorities.

BJP leaders have once again raked the issues of dynastic politics likening their competition with Congress as one between 'merit and dynasty, ability and usurpation, wisdom and hollowness' and so on. There was nothing whatsoever on how this party would deal with the snowballing economic crisis and the perennial questions of poverty and unemployment. This is not expected to go very well with the increasingly younger profile of India's voters.

The ruling party - the Indian National Congress - also assembled its party district and block-level office-bearers in New Delhi last weekend, marking the beginning of its electioneering efforts. The 76-year old Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, still convalescing after his 11-hour heart bypass operation on January 24, continues his conspicuous absence. He was the first prime minister to be missing from India's Republic Day parade and celebrations and has not been seen in public since.

This has encouraged specul-ation about his presence during the elections and also for alternate candidates for prime minister. Campaigns normally favour Rahul Gandhi, whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather have all served as prime ministers. He is clearly seen as the next Congress prime minister in-the-making. So much so that Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had to clarify that Dr Singh will continue to be their prime minister. Nevertheless there remains no doubt that he is there only until Rahul Gandhi gets ready to take that seat.

Addressing Congress office-bearers from district and block-level on Feb 8, Sonia Gandhi praised her son Rahul for his active interest in implementing 'inner party democracy' by holding Youth Congress elections in provinces of Punjab and Uttarakhand. She declared that her party was 'ready, prepared and confident' to return to power based on 'our accomplishments' compared to hollow promises by the opposition party.

The author is Professor of Diplomacy & Disarmament School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

(China Daily 02/17/2009 page9)