It is deemed to be the largest political exercise on this
planet involving close to a billion people. It might also be among the most
expensive democratic exercise (cost us Rs
846.67 Crore in 2009) and practically a logistical nightmare. The great
political tamasha called General Elections in India.
We live today in an age where communication and technology
have transformed the coordination process; but I cannot even image the kind of
pains Sukumar Sen, the first person to be the Election Commissioner in India,
might have gone through. Holding elections in India in 1951-52 and 1957 might
have been the most herculean task. A time when 85% of the 176 Mn age eligible
voters were illiterate, a time when accessibility of some areas was almost
impossible and designing a code of conduct, ballot papers, boxes and the
procedures had no references. The worst of it all- registering 176 Mn voters
onto a list.
A fitting tribute to his capabilities- Sen was also the Election
Commissioner in Nepal and Sudan. Not to mention, there were a few votes cast
with his name written on it by some in 1951- I feel people just felt that if
one person can orchestrate a process so daunting; he can run a country as well.
Indian’s have always been starry eyed when it came to people
they vote for. From the Thakur of a village to a religious head, a union leader
to sportsmen, everyone has come under the democratic process at some point or
the other. Film actors have a special mention here, as they have always
portrayed larger than life characters. So if an MGR was campaigning, his words
became the words of the god he played in his last super hit. This trend will
only grow as I see it.
Electoral reforms have been coming in throughout the years
beyond with change in the rules for political campaigning, propaganda and use
of resources- but the Election Commissioner as a person rarely rose to a
recognizable figure until almost 40 years after Sen. T N Seshan will possibly
be always remembered as a man most responsible for cleaning up the election
process- not to mention; feared by politicians and political parties alike.
Seshan along with MS Gill and GVG Krishnamurthy was the trio who in my opinion
could have also taken up against the Chicago mobs.
I did read that Gill and GVG were brought in by the
government in power then to negate Seshan’s one man army by bringing in
parallels- but together (along with all their internal disagreements) made the
Election Commission a force to reckon with. Any irregularities in the election
procedure, suspected malpractices or violations usually resulted in
disqualification of the person or the result. The iron fist method was a
remarkable success. Gill went on to succeed Seshan as the big boss and
successfully brought in the Electronic Voting Machines- which now limit the
possibilities of a booth capture or bogus voting to a fair extent. Not to
mention, the counting process is now far more efficient and quicker.
One large and significant change that has come to the fore
front of every election campaign has been spending of large sums of money on
media campaigning. Penetration of radio and televisions across the country was
very low till the 80's and the state run network only accessible to the ruling
party. The traditional means of mass campaigning remained dominant with the
megaphones on jeeps and last minute campaigning with car drop services for
voters.
But advent of private
television networks post 1991 firstly provided options to a wider array of
options to the people. Add to it the rise of music videos and private albums-
all contributed to use of new media in elections. It brought with it national
debates on channels, opinion polls along with expert opinion panels.
By the time the 1996 elections came around, private media
was well entrenched in India and I was also enriched with some understanding of
the political parties and their policies. If media had anything to play, I got
to see some of the political campaigning of the Rao government trying to push forth
their development agenda and liberalization via a songs. What was funny in that
song though, was seeing how the destitute couple was uplifted to their smiling
glory by a government led by a leader whose frowns became a cartoonist delight.
The by-elections in 1999 were amazing for one reason- every
political party had entire Video CD with songs in their praise and criticize
the other. I still can’t get over “dauda dauda bhaaga bhaaga sa… Deve Gowda
bhaaga bhaaga sa”, and attracting Bollywood singers and directors as the
talent. Advertising agencies were running the political campaigns and public
relation agencies wrote speeches, designed press releases and managing the
public image of leaders to a level where even the dress they wore for a public
appearance was orchestrated. Today I can listen to Modi adding in verses to Sukhvinder Singh's 'Saugandh mujhe iss mitti ki' almost 3 times an hour on radio and the 'Shiv Senaaaa' tune playing across Mumbai.
Mobile phones as a medium of political campaigning came in
dominance in 2004 with BJP having a pre-recorded message of Atal Behari
Vajpayee playing out to every voter on a reliance network. In 2009, the UPA
bought the rights for “Jai ho” and the NDA fought back in mocking them with
“Bhay ho”… the latter failed miserably though.
Internet and social media has taken political campaigning to
a whole new level. BJP and AAP are amongst the most prolific users of this
media with dedicated teams working overnight. Youtube videos are helping voters
excited. Websites are updated on daily basis and even a “Mann se hai Mulayam…”
can become the talk of the town in minutes. Anything said in any form cannot
miss the public eye and the person involved cannot get away saying he was
misquoted.
Well, so the stage has been set for the next big saga to
unfold… all that remains is how all the media and popularity transforms the political
landscape of this country.
