By Satya Prakash
At the end of a vicious and divisive election campaign spread over several months, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has emerged victorious by winning 353 of the 542 Lok Sabha seats for which polls were held.
Some political observers are worried over the brute majority with which the Narendra Modi government has returned to power while others have dismissed the apprehensions as completely baseless and unfounded.
But more than anything else, the 2019 poll has established the inviolability of the Constitution as the basic norm of Indian polity. Peaceful transfer of power after 17 consecutive General Elections since 1952 makes India a truly democratic nation that stands out as the world’s largest democracy where the roots of democracy are deepening with the conclusion of each election. The powerful image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowing before the Constitution during the NDA parliamentary party meeting on Saturday evening only strengthens the people’s faith in the sacred document drafted by our founding fathers almost seven decades ago to guide a newly independent nation. His statement that “Those voting against us are also part of us” underlines the fact that he was speaking like the Prime Minister of India and not like a BJP leader during poll campaign.
The humility with which Congress president Rahul Gandhi accepted his party’s defeat and congratulated Modi sends out an equally strong positive message about unquestionable acceptance of democratic traditions that go much beyond political rivalry displayed during campaigning. Most of the other political leaders also accepted the outcome of the electoral exercise — a sign of their innate faith in the political process and respect for the people’s mandate.
When India became independent in 1947 and chose the path of a constitutional democracy, many western scholars were sceptical about the success of democracy in a nation as diverse as India.
Giving universal franchise to a largely illiterate population was a huge decision as many of the western countries, including Switzerland and Portugal, conferred right to vote on women only in the 1970s. As many newly independent countries of Asia and Africa witnessed military coups and dictatorships, they kept speculating about the survival of democracy in India.
When Emergency was imposed in India by the Indira Gandhi government for 18 months between June 1975 and March 1977, many thought the sceptics were right, particularly after the Supreme Court’s verdict in the ADM Jabalpur case that said citizens’ fundamental rights, including right to life and right against self-incrimination, can be suspended during Emergency.
But in the last four decades, Indian institutions — be it the Supreme Court, the Election Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General or the Fourth Estate — have come of age by complementing each other in moments of crises.
This is not to suggest that there is no scope for improvement in their functioning. But it’s largely because of their constant vigil and diligent discharge of duties that India stands out in complete contrast to the countries in its neighbourhood where democracy remains a far cry.
Democracy functions through institutions which keep checks on each other and, in the process, achieve the balance required to keep the system running and maintain people’s faith in it.
For example, the Supreme Court’s intervention was enough to activate an inert Election Commission to deal with instances of violation of Model Code of Conduct during the recently concluded polls. Similarly, when the political class failed to effect the changes needed in the electoral process to purge it of criminal elements, the top court introduced a series of electoral reforms, including immediate disqualification of lawmakers on conviction and NOTA, to enhance the credibility of the electoral system.
The Election Commission too has started invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 324 of the Constitution wherever the Representation of People Act fails to support its action needed to deal with a situation.
Conducting free and fair elections in a country with 90 crore voters and 10 lakh polling booths is not a joke. The task becomes all the more difficult when hundreds of complaints of poll code violations keep pouring in on a daily basis. The poll panel has performed the task with utmost accuracy. Even the apprehensions about EVMs proved to be completely wrong as EVM results perfectly matched with VVPAT slips in 100 per cent cases.
The electoral process is also about mainstreaming of political parties and leaders as they keep reposing their faith in the Constitution to gain acceptance among voters who have become much more mature over the decades.
With just 45.7 per cent voter turnout in 1952 to 67.4 per cent this year, the Indian electorate has come a long way in terms of their participation in the dance of democracy by proving pollsters wrong on many occasions. In the ultimate analysis, it’s about the triumph of democracy in India.
INDIA AHEAD OF WEST
- Giving universal franchise to a largely illiterate population was a huge decision as many western countries, including Switzerland and Portugal, conferred right to vote on women only in the 1970s.
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from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2W69G1R
via Today’s News Headlines
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