As India goes to the polls, and the possibility of a fractured, truncated mandate looms large, many a man on the street is voicing their wonder at the “wastage” that the entire process involves. Take for example, the number of candidates in the fray. Every single election has seen the number of candidates increasing and it has reached such a proportion that this time around, at places, the EVM machines may not be able to display the symbols of every contestant, necessitating the deployment of multiple machines, bigger polling stations to accommodate them, more election officials to run them, more security personnel to guard them: in other words, the works. Which off-course means only one thing to the skeptics– the “wastage” of taxpayer’s resources.
Take New Delhi for example: 1,27,11,371 electors will elect representatives for 7 Parliamentary constituencies (6 general and 1 SC). There are 150 candidates in the fray for these 7 seats, of which 12 are females. There are 6 Parliamentary Constituencies with more than 16 candidates each, with PC No. 4, New Delhi having the maximum, 29 candidates. The bewildering fact is out of these 150 candidates, the Congress, BJP, BSP, CPI, CPI(M) and NCP together account for only 21 candidates. Of the rest, 71 belong to Registered Political Parties (Other than National and State) while the rest 58 belong to the category of “Independents”.
With full time, professional politicians backed by mainline political parties in the fray, one doesn’t need a degree in political science to predict that none of these 58 independents can influence the outcome of the election, leave alone, emerge as the winner. Then why do these people contest?
“Most of these are, what we call, “dummy” candidates for one or more of the “regular” candidates” said Ranajoy Rakshit, a popular political leader from Kolkata. “As every candidate is entitled to the same facilities, by entering three dummies you can increase your clout that many times. That means eight representatives inside the polling station as opposed to two, who can, if you want, challenge bona-fide opposition voters and slow down the electoral process, an example of the much maligned “booth jamming” as it is popularly called.” The same is true for everything – the number of cars you can use, to the temporary party offices you can erect ostensibly to “assist” voters, but actually to flex your muscles.
Many candidates are similarly fielded to eat into vote banks, not to ensure their wins, but simply to ensure the defeat of your opponent. Another popular ploy is to field as many candidates with a name that is the same or sounds similar to that of your opponent, which has been proven as a potent tool to confuse opposition voters and ensure that at the least, some genuine opposition votes are nullified.
“I know one gentleman, who religiously files his nomination only to avail of the official security guard that all candidates are entitled to” said Rakshit. “It’s a kind of a perverse delight, if you may, but this gentleman feels that all the trouble is worth it, just to be seen in public accompanied by a policeman acting as his personal security”. Needless to say, in a country full of symbols, the symbolic message such moves sends out is a status enhancer, if not an outright game changer.
There are others who see much deeper designs behind these candidates who do not even have an outside chance. A state level organiser for a leftist party who did not wish to be identified said, “we know we do not have a chance of winning but still contest for so many reasons – fighting an election is a sure way of engaging your electorate and reaching out to them with your message, apart from mobilizing your machinery and test their functioning capabilities in a war situation. Ensuring the visibility of your symbol in the clutter too is an achievement in itself for the message that is silently conveyed is that you too are in the fight, all of which go to the strengthening of your support base, increasing the effectiveness and bolstering the morale of your workers apart from fulfilling some Election Commission norms.”
However, like Ranajoy Rakshit says, “most of these candidates have vested interests to cater to.” Some are there to build their images, as one can overnight become a “mentor” or a “social worker” or a “youth icon” at a relatively low cost and have his smiling face “look down upon” the electorate from billboards and posters. People with checkered pasts can whitewash their images and reinvent avatars that suit their ego, or distribute largess in the locality in the hope of swaying opinion to slot themselves as Robin Hood’s – “in case of people from the wrong side of the law, to be seen more as Robin than the Hood’s that they are” added Rakshit with a smile.
“As a candidate you can dress up in spotless white khadi, fold your hands, put on your most benign smile and request “targets” to bankroll your efforts” said Ranajoy. “The donations that come in are good money, especially considering the fact that most of it is unaccounted”. As a candidate, you have free access, even a license that you can use to further your interests, unless of course, you are there only to collect for your coffers. In that case, you go through the motions, collect the cash are laugh all the way to the Bank – Vote Banks be damned!
Does it mean that ideology is dead? That, there is no thing as a Tragic Hero: someone who knows defeat is inevitable but still fights for the cause? Technically, that can’t be ruled out. All the candidates having their deposits forfeited slot themselves as ones, but the fact remains, even in defeat, most expect their political masters to make good their “sacrifice” by one way or the other. And being a Dummy to many, is just another step in the right direction.
That brings us back to where we started. There will be 7 General Observers, 7 Expenditure Observers, Approximately 900 Micro Observers, 98,000 polling personnel (appx.) spread across 11,763 polling stations that will deploy 12,078 EVM Control Units and 22,096 ballot units in NCT for the polling alone. How about spreading the cost evenly across the 150 odd candidates? “Surely, those who seek your blessings should be prepared to pay for it”?
“What is the social coast of every bogus / dummy candidate that we have to bankroll” asks Ranajoy Rakshit? Going on to add “imagine, the number of needy students we could have educated with the money, or the number of ill who could have been provided with medical care, or the number of hungry mouths that could have been fed”?
You can follow me in Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharmChawm