With the Karnataka State Legislative Assembly election due this week, much of the nation is riveted by the power games afoot, and the strategies and rhetoric of politicians. But if we go a little deeper into the political process, what matters is how the political game is played, and the inevitable consequences of the game, irrespective of who wins and who loses. We are naturally programmed to focus on elections as a war, and we are eager and excited to know who wins. Many of us take a partisan position without any deep reflection, and get lost in the change of players, even as there is no real change in outcomes to the people.
Whether it is Congress or BJP or JD (S), most contesting candidates are of similar background, attitude and aspirations, and many candidates are interchangeable between the parties. There really is no competition for ideas of governance and delivery; there is merely polarisation on trumped up issues, or on caste and religion. In any case the amount of money a candidate can spend (often .30-40 crores in a constituency) and his/her caste are the most important determinants of election outcome. Since parties have nothing concrete and long-term that can creditably be offered, apart from the money and gifts to induce voters, short-term individual welfare is the dominant incentive for voters.
In such a climate, politics becomes a battlefield for individual dominance in a constituency. Only a class of people — fiercely ambitious for personal relevance and control, can raise and spend astronomical sums in elections, have the personalised network and caste base to mobilise voters, and have the inclination and energy to convert political influence and money into private wealth — are the serious players contesting elections on behalf of major parties in every constituency. These are the necessary qualities to have a realistic chance of being nominated by a major party, and therefore a shot at winning the election. The contest in India is only among candidates of major parties, and non-party independents are generally irrelevant. In this scramble to be nominated and elected, there is no space for ideas and outcomes. Enormous energy and resources are invested without a public purpose or direction.
Most serious candidates contest for individual relevance and feudal dominance of their constituency. Corruption and amassing personal wealth are by-products of the prevailing political culture and the necessity of voter inducement on the demand side, and arbitrary exercise of power and failure of rule of law on the supply side. We often confuse causes and consequences. Corruption is the consequence — not the cause — of our dysfunctional, flawed democracy and governance. Just as a few politicians make astronomical sums of money from public offices, the vast majority of players are willing to spend money disproportionate to their income just to be recognised and relevant in the public domain.
Given these political realities, major parties bidding for power in a state have no option but to embrace ‘powerful’ and ‘winnable’ candidates who bring money, caste, personal network and energy to the table. Last minute party-hopping of even senior politicians entirely for personal ambition unrelated to public good is very common in every state. Major leaders and parties have limited options and power before an election; sometimes even relatively minor players can defy and humiliate them. The marginal vote that a candidate brings is all-important in winning the election in our winner-take-all first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. Parties that forget it and act on principle before the election often end up losing power. BJP paid a heavy price when the party sidelined Yediyurappa in 2011, and he had to be rehabilitated later. Similarly, Congress paid a heavy price when they sidelined Mr Jaganmohan Reddy in 2009, and the party lost one of their bastions of support on a long-term basis. After an election, given the draconian power of the party under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law), a party which commands the loyalty of the Speaker of the House can totally control a legislator. But come election time, it is a no-holds-barred battle for power, and every politician with some ability to mobilise the vote locally has immense clout, and the party is weak without ‘strong’ local leaders at the district and constituency level.
The result is a disguised executive system in which the elected MLA is the uncrowned king of the constituency. The MLA has very little say in shaping public policy, making laws or holding the government to account. But he has immense and informal executive power in deciding transfers and postings, contracts and tenders, allocation of land, crime investigation and licensing quarries of sand and mining. It is raw feudal power with no rule of law or accountability. Our democracy is captured by such unaccountable local elites, and parties have neither the will nor the power to set things right within the confines of the FPTP system in the Westminster model. At the same time, the MLA or even a minister has little role in shaping policy or law in our centralised system in which all powers are concentrated in the hands of the chief minister, and local governments are largely emasculated and irrelevant. However, in the Westminster model we embraced, the support of the majority of MLAs is the sole source of survival of the executive, and therefore the MLA enjoys illegitimate, unaccountable, de-facto executive power in the constituency, disrupting all canons of equity, fair play and rule of law.
Clearly, mere change of players in elections is not enough in our dysfunctional system. If elections actually are to improve outcomes for the people and make our democracy richer, we need electoral system change.
The author is the founder of the Lok Satta movement and Foundation for Democratic Reforms. Email: drjploksatta@gmail.com / Twitter @jp_loksatta
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