There was a vacancy of a dwarf in the circus.

Applicants included a six foot

tall young man whose claim to being a dwarf was based on his family
history. His argument was that since he belonged to a family of dwarfs, he
had a genuine right to call himself a dwarf. The manager of the circus had
an hearty laugh. A similar joke is being enacted with all seriousness on the
people of India. The country needs some towering personalities to lead her
but all that she can get are some dwarfs who are trying desperately to
prove that they are not dwarfs but are great men/women.

General Elections to the Parliament are critical for all political creatures in
the Indian political circus. Even before the first vote is cast, selection of
candidates is a difficult test that Indian political parties and leaders pass
through. On one hand, selecting the right candidates is linked to the
survival of the party as a political entity; on the other hand, selection as a
candidate by a party is a matter of political life and death for any person.
Given this sort of pressures, it would seem natural that the political parties
adopt a systematic, democratic, transparent approach towards candidate
selection. The reality is exactly opposite. All Indian political parties adopt a
disorganized, opaque, ad-hoc approach which is based more on short-
term internal group equations rather than on qualities and capabilities of
the candidate.

Indian political circus is dominated by two national parties - Indian National

Congress (called Congress) and Bharatiya Janata Party (called BJP).
Congress has dominated the political scene during the past five decades,
having been in power for more than four decades. Congress had the
benefit of stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi whose
towering personality overshadowed every other person in the party. During
the Nehru-Indira era, the selection of candidates (also called ticket
distribution) was centered in the hands of Nehru/Indira, who kept a vice-
like grip on the party organization throughout the country and had a
personal knowledge of the key persons in each region of the country.
Nehru and Indira developed the ticket distribution exercise as an
instrument to strengthen their grip on the party by rewarding the faithfuls
and by punishing those whose loyalty was suspect. In the hands of
exemplary politicians like Nehru and Indira, the instrument proved to be
really effective in controlling the cadres. This led to development of a
model for selection of candidates, which was adopted not only by
Congress but also by all other political parties in India. However, in the
absence of a strong personality like Nehru or Indira, the deft handling that
characterized the selection of candidates by the Congress in Nehru-Indira
era has been replaced by a mockery. It almost seems that a classic fascist
drama is being enacted with comical actors.
Selection of candidates for the forthcoming general elections has stirred a
hornet's nest in various parties. Congress seems to be the worst affected
of the lot. Angry scenes have been witnessed at the Congress
headquarters at Delhi, where a Congress worker tried to immolate himself.
The rumours that some senior Congress leaders accepted bribes for
helping in procurement of party tickets has added fuel to fire. In this
atmosphere of dis-satisfaction, mutual distrust and cynicism, the
immaturity of Congress President Sonia Gandhi has aggravated the
problems. The suspense associated with her own constituency and the last
minute mid-air drama of helicopter changing course and her going to
Bellary, Karnataka instead of Cuddapah, Andhra Pradesh has only
underscored her lack of confidence. Such a shaky leader trying to adopt
the style of Nehru and Indira can be a sure recipe for problems.

BJP leadership finds itself in a different set of problems. Atalbihari

Vajpayee, the present Prime Minister, seems to be riding on the crest of a
popularity wave. This has led his party BJP to indulge in daydreaming of
coming back to power with a thumping majority. A day-dreamer's level of
confidence knows no bounds. BJP almost seems to believe that if it puts
up even a lamp-post as a candidate, the lamp-post will win the elections
hands down. With such a mindset, considerations of good-bad, capable-
incapable, popular-unpopular etc. become irrelevant. Group equations and
personal loyalties become the key considerations and intrigue becomes
the order of the day. Talks of internal democracy and transparency are
treated as futile chatter both in BJP and Congress. BJP is further plagued
by its love for old faces that have long ago ceased to find favour with the
people. BJP's internal structures are so organized that the new faces that
come up are generally the ones that are firmly tied to the apron strings of
this or that senior leader. An exit policy that recognizes death as the only
possible reason for quitting politics coupled with a disregard of all claims
based on talent and capabilities has often forced capable persons to leave
BJP. It is no exaggeration to say that BJP (and Congress too) faces a
severe crunch in terms of quality persons in its middle and junior level
leadership.

It may well be asked - why should anyone bother about the internal
structures of political parties. Some politicians have often taken the view
that no one has a right to know anything about matters that are internal to
their party. A political party is not a private club established for the benefit
of its members. In a democracy the political parties collectively exercise a
monopoly on the reins of power. It can be said that the political parties are
the trustees of democracy. An erosion of democratic values in the internal
functioning of political parties is an indicator of impending dangers to
democracy. Society expects political parties to act as nurseries for the
future rulers of the society. It is the duty of political parties to identify,
nurture and develop talent for this purpose and to present the best
possible alternatives to the people. If the political parties fail in this duty
and present candidates who are incapable, dishonest, corrupt or
unpopular, the political parties lose their credibility and their moral right to
act as nurseries for future rulers of the country. Such a situation will
naturally lead to the weakening of democracy. The fall in credibility of
Indian political parties witnessed during the past few years should hence
cause worries to all persons who are concerned about growth of
democracy on the surface of earth.

In no other major democratic country in the world, the elected

representatives are made puppets of the party bosses, the way that it is
done in India. There exists legislation to grant statutory power to the whips
issued by party bosses to party legislators and parliamentarians. In the
absence of internal democracy within political parties, this reduces the
democratic setup to a "whipocracy". Combining this with an ad-hoc and
opaque system of selection of candidates by the political parties,
"whipocracy" seems to be nothing but nascent fascism.

Selection of candidates by political parties is neither just an issue related to

the political career of some aspirants nor is it an exercise to increase the
intra-party strength of some political lords. It is an exercise that decides the
future of the country as well as the future of democracy in the country.
Hence, if democracy has to flourish in India, the political parties of India
must change their ways and adopt selection procedures that are
transparent and are based on objective assessment of capabilities. Indian
political leaders must realize that their existence as well the existence of
democracy in India depends on their shedding the Nehru-Indira mentality
of treating the party as their personal fiefdom. It is essential that they start
looking at political parties as social institutions created in the interest of
society and nation.

Needless to say that this sort of outlook would require persons who can
rise above petty self-interest and look at society, nation and the world at
large. Isn't that what being great is all about? India needs such great
leaders and not dwarfs who are using all sorts of props to convey an
impression of greatness. The manager of the circus could laugh at the six
foot dwarf but for the people of India, dwarfs masquerading as great
leaders is no laughing matter. They must choose one of the alternatives
presented.
VT JOSHI and ANIL CHAWLA
 IDA CRPD FORUM
STEERING COMMITTEE
Disabled Peoples' International, Inclusion International,
International Federation of Hard of Hearing People,
Rehabilitation International, World Blind Union,
World Federation of the Deaf, World Federation of the DeafBlind,
World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry,
Arab Organization of Disabled People, European Disability Forum,
African Decade Secretariat, Asia Pacific Disability Forum,
Red Latinoamericana de Organizaciones no Gubernamentales de Personas
con Discapacidad y sus familias (RIADIS)
Handicap International, Survivor Corps

ANNEX A
Criteria to ensure the nomination of the highest qualified experts
to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

∗
Criteria for the Process

1. All states parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities (CRPD) should nominate a candidate.

Ensuring that experts are chosen is essential to guaranteeing that election is

based on expertise and not conducted from a pre-determined slate of candidates
who will simply be endorsed by traditional political structures.

The IDA CRPD Forum calls on states to base their choice first and foremost
upon the nominees’ expertise, and abandon the practice of supporting nominees
solely in accordance with political agreements. For that to happen, the broadest
pool of qualified candidates must exist, and therefore each state party must
nominate a qualified candidate (see separate list of qualifications).

2. States should ensure transparency and publicity in the selection

process, comprised of two stages: nomination of a candidate State Party
on the national level, and selection of members of the committee by States
Parties from among nominated candidates (Article 33(5)).

Nomination


Based on “Checklist to ensure the nomination of the highest qualified candidates for judges” for the
International Criminal Court, prepared by Amnesty International, 2002.
i. The nomination process as a whole should be advertised widely
and in advance.

To ensure transparency and a broad range of applications from people who

meet the criteria, the nomination process must be public. The process will be
of interest to many members and organizations of civil society who will want
to follow and, where appropriate, participate in the process. It is also a matter
of public interest.

In order to obtain a broad range of applications from qualified candidates,

States must advertise the process publicly, as well as in publications chosen
to target those who may meet the criteria.

The advertisement on the nomination process should reach all potential

applicants, including through national newspapers and other media, and
through dissemination to relevant sectors of civil society, in particular
organizations of persons with disabilities (DPOs), NGOs, academics, legal
advocates and community-based organizations.

The nomination process should also be advertised with sufficient time for
news of the procedure to circulate and for applicants to apply.

ii. The advertisement should include clear criteria for selecting

candidates.

The advertisement should clearly set out the criteria for experts set out in
Article 34(3) and (4) of the CRPD, and indicate that these are requisite criteria
and that candidates with such expertise are encouraged to apply.

The IDA CRPD Forum has prepared criteria for selection of candidates in
accordance with the qualifications demanded of them by the CRPD (Articles
34(3) and (4)) and derived from the principles of Convention as a whole,
which are attached to this document as Annex B. In compliance with the
CRPD principle of consultation, the IDA CRPD Forum calls on States to use
these criteria as a basis for qualification of candidates and selection of
nominees from among them.

iii. The names and qualifications of those making the selection

should be made public.

To increase transparency of the process, the names and qualifications of the

people who will be selecting the nominees should be broadly publicized,
preferably in the advertisement used to attract potential nominees.

iv. Nominations should be promptly made public.

 Selection of the nominee from among the candidates should promptly be
made public through the means of advertisement mentioned above. This will
enable civil society, in particular DPOs, from around the world, to prepare for
and participate in the next stages, of election of Committee members from
among the nominees.

Selection from among nominated candidates

v. The qualifications of nominated candidates should be made public.

Once nomination of a candidate has been made on the national level, steps
should be taken to ensure continued transparency. States Parties are strongly
encouraged to promptly submit their nomination, as well as the qualifications
and CV of the nominated candidate, to the UN Secretariat for this Convention
for posting on the UN website.

vi. Selection should be made based on qualifications and highest

standards

In choosing from among the nominated candidates, States Parties should

consider the extent to which candidates meet the qualification requirements
set by the Convention and the criteria of expertise set out in Annex B.

3. In accordance with Article 34(3) of the CRPD, States should consult

throughout the process with persons with disabilities through their
representative organizations; in particular:

i. in determining the criteria for selection of candidates;

States Parties are encouraged to consult with national DPOs regarding

additional criteria from the national context, which could be relevant to the
selection of a suitable candidate in addition to the criteria suggested (Annex
B).

ii. in determining the content of the advertisement inviting candidates

to apply;

Before issuing the advertisement, States should seek comments and input
from DPOs on the content of the advertisement.

iii. by encouraging DPOs to assist states in obtaining applications from

highly qualified candidates who meet the criteria;

Assistance from civil society is essential to identify and to encourage

applications from highly qualified candidates. States should encourage civil
society to circulate the advertisement as widely as possible and to request
persons who meet the criteria to apply. In particular, States should encourage
DPOs to help obtain applications from candidates recognized for competence
in applying the principles of the CRPD.

iv. by consulting with DPOs on applicants’ skills and experience and

how they meet the criteria.

Appropriate mechanisms should be put in place whereby civil society and

others can provide substantive comments and information about an applicant.
This information should be public and provided to the applicant in advance of
selection or interview so that the applicant is able to reply or provide further
information. Persons with disabilities and their representative organizations
will be able to provide important information regarding applicants. In
accordance with the State’s obligation to consult with DPOs in the selection
process, due weight should be accorded to their comments.

v. by considering the comments of civil society when selecting

members from among nominated candidates in the Conference of
States Parties.

The last crucial stage is the voting on members of the Committee from among
the nominated candidates, at the Conference of States Parties. In accordance
with the CRPD, States Parties should consider the comments of civil society
on the candidates’ qualifications and expertise, in particular those of people
with disabilities and their allies represented by the IDA CRPD Forum, in line
with the close consultation with the IDC throughout the negotiation process.
Commission on Presidential Debates' Nonpartisan Candidate Selection Criteria for
2008 General Election Debate Participation

A. Introduction

The mission of the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (the "CPD") is to

ensure, for the benefit of the American electorate, that general election debates are
held every four years between the leading candidates for the offices of President and
Vice President of the United States. The CPD sponsored a series of such debates in
each of the past five general elections, and has begun the planning, preparation, and
organization of a series of nonpartisan debates among leading candidates for the
Presidency and Vice Presidency in the 2008 general election. As in prior years, the
CPD's voter educational activities will be conducted in accordance with all applicable
legal requirements, including regulations of the Federal Election Commission that
require that debate sponsors extend invitations to debate based on the application of
"pre-established, objective" criteria.

The goal of the CPD's debates is to afford the members of the public an opportunity
to sharpen their views, in a focused debate format, of those candidates from among
whom the next President and Vice President will be selected. In each of the last five
elections, there were scores of declared candidates for the Presidency, excluding
those seeking the nomination of one of the major parties. During the course of the
campaign, the candidates are afforded many opportunities in a great variety of
forums to advance their candidacies. In order most fully and fairly to achieve the
educational purposes of its debates, the CPD has developed nonpartisan, objective
criteria upon which it will base its decisions regarding selection of the candidates to
participate in its 2008 debates. The purpose of the criteria is to identify those
candidates who have achieved a level of electoral support such that they realistically
are considered to be among the principal rivals for the Presidency.
In connection with the 2008 general election, the CPD will apply three criteria to
each declared candidate to determine whether that candidate qualifies for inclusion
in one or more of the CPD's debates. The criteria are (1) constitutional eligibility, (2)
ballot access, and (3) electoral support. All three criteria must be satisfied before a
candidate will be invited to debate.

B. 2008 Nonpartisan Selection Criteria

The CPD's nonpartisan criteria for selecting candidates to participate in the 2008
general election presidential debates are:

1. Evidence of Constitutional Eligibility

The CPD's first criterion requires satisfaction of the eligibility requirements
of Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution. The requirements are satisfied
if the candidate:
a. is at least 35 years of age;
b. is a Natural Born Citizen of the United States and a resident of
the United States for fourteen years; and
c. is otherwise eligible under the Constitution.
 2. Evidence of Ballot Access
The CPD's second criterion requires that the candidate qualify to have
his/her name appear on enough state ballots to have at least a
mathematical chance of securing an Electoral College majority in the 2008
general election. Under the Constitution, the candidate who receives a
majority of votes in the Electoral College, at least 270 votes, is elected
President regardless of the popular vote.
3. Indicators of Electoral Support
The CPD's third criterion requires that the candidate have a level of
support of at least 15% (fifteen percent) of the national electorate as
determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations,
using the average of those organizations' most recent publicly-reported
results at the time of the determination.

C. Application of Criteria

CPD's determination with respect to participation in CPD's first-scheduled debate will

be made after Labor Day 2008, but sufficiently in advance of the first-scheduled
debate to allow for orderly planning. Invitations to participate in the vice-presidential
debate will be extended to the running mates of each of the presidential candidates
qualifying for participation in CPD's first presidential debate. Invitations to participate
in the second and third of CPD's scheduled presidential debates will be based upon
satisfaction of the same multiple criteria prior to each debate.
The eligibility criteria should be fixed for the candidates who want to contest elections. This was said by
Satnam Singh Dhaliwal, president of Universal Human Rights Organisation (UHRO), while addressing a
press conference here today.

Dhaliwal said, “There is an eligibility criteria for the appointment of a class IV employee. His education, age
and capabilities are fixed and the time of retirement is also fixed. Even the criminal verification is also done.
On the similar lines, there shall be some eligibility criteria for the candidates contesting elections. It is a
matter of grave concern that leaders who are elected in the Lok Sabha do not have to fulfill such conditions.
Even an old and uneducated person becomes the leader and then formulates rules and regulations for
overall development of the country.”

While Soorat Singh Khalsa, general secretary of the UHRO, said, “In the first phase of Lok Sabha elections,
many candidates with criminal background contested elections from different political parties. Such
candidates should not be allowed to contest the elections.”

Dhaliwal said that UHRO will file a Public Interest Litigation in Supreme Court to fix the eligibility criteria of
candidates.

He further said that there shall be separate button in Electronic Voting Machine through which a voter not
interested in casting his/her vote should be able to give his/her suggestion and such suggestion should be
handed over to the government.

Dhaliwal said that there should be some fixed time for fulfilling the promises made in the election manifesto
of each party, failing which the registration of party should be cancelled.

When asked why they were saying all this late in the day because the 15th Lok Sabha elections had already
begun, Soorat Singh Khalsa said, “We are late this time. But it would be an eye opener for the future
elections.”
To: Political Parties of India _ National, Regional, Local

To: The Political Parties of India (National, Regional and Local)

5C’s for - Clean,Credible,Competent,Corruption Free and Committed - Candidate

Dear Sirs/Madams,

I am a citizen of India seeking good governance. By signing this petition I am committed

to setting aside labels of caste, creed, community and ideological differences to unite
with my fellow citizen in seeking good governance.

Very soon candidates from your parties will be campaigning in my constituency, visit my
village, my neighbourhood, my apartment block, and fold his/her hands at my doorstep,
seeking from me my most valuable possession as a citizen – my vote.

Please note that I wish to be treated with the respect deserved by a citizen of India - not a
vote bank statistic. Therefore, my vote cannot be purchased with pouches of illicit liquor
and Rs. 500 notes; it cannot be stolen at the polling booth and I will not squander it on
false promises. I shall invest my vote in good governance alone.

Before your candidates seek my vote, allow me to seek a commitment from all political
parties to good governance for the greatest good of all.

Also, expected from all Parties is a commitment to arrive at a consensus on all issues in
the national interest – specifically national security - irrespective of ideology.

The above commitments must reflect in the election manifesto of your parties.

Party candidates representing your parties for the forthcoming Lok Sabha Parliamentary
elections must comply with the following criteria:

• Clean Image: free of any previous history or pending cases of criminal or economic
nature in any court of law in this country. Declaration of assets and all sources of income.

• Credibility: possessing the credentials to represent a constituency with either a record of

service in the public domain and/or an expertise in a particular profession.
• Competence: to represent the voice and concerns of his/her constituency on issues of
local, national and international importance. Candidates selected in order to pander to
vote banks on the basis of caste, creed, community or business interests shall be deemed
unacceptable.

• Corruption Free: with no history of corrupt practices or, the aiding and abettment of the
same in his/her professional or public life.
• Commitment to the principles of secularism enshrined in the Constitution of India

In the event that the candidates nominated by your parties - for any constituency - fail to
comply with the above criteria, citizens such as myself and fellow signatories of this
petition shall enjoy the following choices:

• To recommend a candidate from within your respective parties to represent your party
for the constituency, complying with all of the above criteria.
• To recommend to a political party the replacement of a standing representative who is
in breach of the above criteria during his completed tenure as Member of Parliament.
• Reserve the right to support an Independent candidate seeking election complying with
the above criteria
• Reserve the right to nominate an ‘Aam Aadmi’ candidate for each constituency, who
will seek election as an independent enjoying the support of the signatories belonging to
the same constituency.

Rather than devaluing my vote by voting ‘against’ the candidates chosen by your political
parties, I wish to cast my vote ‘for’ good governance.

It is my endeavour to circulate this petition in every Indian language to every nook and
corner of this country, by email and on paper, across the internet and on foot, to solicit
thumbprint and signature.

I beseech you not to ignore the pleas of this petition. I look forward to your co-operation
and the opportunity to participate in bringing the change I wish to see in our great
democracy.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned
Dear Friends/ Citizens

Recently we have experienced very traumatic times when our beloved

country
has been threatened both from beyond our borders and within.

Troubling times are upon us with Indian fighting Indian on grounds of

caste,
creed, community, region, language and culture for political advantage
of
the few, putting at grave risk the many.

Corporate India has lost its ethical moorings underwriting the mayhem
created by the political class for the singular pursuit of profit.

The sanctity of Parliament has been compromised by persons with criminal

histories a mile long; unable to debate on issues of national
importance,
squandering crores of public money on un-conducted business in an
unattended
Lok Sabha. Thereafter, our representatives enjoy the highest levels of
security afraid of the citizens they represent.

Once again the Lok Sabha Elections are around the corner.

>From 1.2 billion people we have to choose 542 persons with impeccable
credentials to serve and provide leadership.

While we have enjoyed a far from impressive track record doing so, till
date, another opportunity is upon us to make the difference that we have
been seeking for so very long.

If we citizens have to bring the change then, we have to respect each

other's political differences and arrive at a consensus seeking good
governance from the political parties that represent us.

Please consider this an appeal from one Indian citizen to

another,setting
aside religion, community, language caste etc.

May I request you to read the contents of the petition below and then
visit
the link to sign it.

In order that this petition may receive the widest possible circulation
and
signatures, may I request you to do the following:

- Translate it into any and every Indian language.

- If any individual, group or organisation wishes to replicate the

petition in an Indian language and place an electronic version on the
petition online website, please contact citizen.positive at
gmail.com. This
 is only to ensure that there is no duplication of the petition in
any one
language.

- For those with no limited or internet access, please take a print

out
of the petition and have the same signed, or thumb imprinted.

- For those groups, organisations etc, obtaining signatures on a hard

copy, please have a representative sign the petition, providing email
address,valid registration number of organisation and number of
signatures
obtained.

- For those groups of people with no internet access, the original

hard
copy may be sent to the, *Chief Election Commissioner*, *Election
Commission of India*, with photcopies to each of the poltical parties
marked *" 5C's Criteria For Lok Sabha Candidates"* in a language of
your
choice.

- The electronic version of the petition will also be sent to the

Election Commission of India, with copies to each of the poltical
parties

Let's make the difference...

sincerely

Ranjan Kamath

_______________________________________________________________________
_____________________

* The petition title is: 5C's for Lok Sabha Candidates.*

The petition URL is:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/5CLS09/petition.html

The petition is directed to: Political Parties of India _ National,

Regional, Local

The start date is: .January 31st, 2009

The end date is: ..March 1, 2009

The petition statement says:

To: The Political Parties of India (National, Regional and Local)

*5C's for - Clean,Credible,Competent,**Corruption Free and Committed -
Candidate*

Dear Sirs/Madams,

I am a citizen of India seeking good governance. By signing this

petition I
am committed to setting aside labels of caste, creed, community and
ideological differences to unite with my fellow citizen in seeking good
governance.

Very soon candidates from your parties will be campaigning in my

constituency, visit my village, my neighbourhood, my apartment block,
and
fold his/her hands at my doorstep, seeking from me my most valuable
possession as a citizen – my vote.

Please note that I wish to be treated with the respect deserved by a

citizen
of India - not a vote bank statistic. Therefore, my vote cannot be
purchased
with pouches of illicit liquor and Rs. 500 notes; it cannot be stolen
at the
polling booth and I will not squander it on false promises. I shall
invest
my vote in good governance alone.

Before your candidates seek my vote, allow me to seek a commitment from

all
political parties to good governance for the greatest good of all.

Also, expected from all Parties is a commitment to arrive at a

consensus on
all issues in the national interest – specifically national security -
irrespective of ideology.

The above commitments must reflect in the election manifesto of your

parties.

Party candidates representing your parties for the forthcoming Lok Sabha
Parliamentary elections must comply with the following criteria:

• Clean Image: free of any previous history or pending cases of

criminal or economic nature in any court of law in this country.
Declaration
of assets and all sources of income.

• Credibility: possessing the credentials to represent a

constituency
with either a record of service in the public domain and/or an
expertise in
a particular profession.
• Competence: to represent the voice and concerns of his/her
constituency on issues of local, national and international importance.
Candidates selected in order to pander to vote banks on the basis of
caste,
creed, community or business interests shall be deemed unacceptable.

• Corruption Free: with no history of corrupt practices or, the

aiding
and abettment of the same in his/her professional or public life.

• Commitment to the principles of secularism enshrined in the

Constitution of India

In the event that the candidates nominated by your parties - for any
constituency - fail to comply with the above criteria, citizens such as
myself and fellow signatories of this petition shall enjoy the following
choices:

• To recommend a candidate from within your respective parties to

represent your party for the constituency, complying with all of the
above
criteria.

• To recommend to a political party the replacement of a standing

representative who is in breach of the above criteria during his
completed
tenure as Member of Parliament.

• Reserve the right to support an Independent candidate seeking

election complying with the above criteria

• Reserve the right to nominate an 'Aam Aadmi' candidate for each

constituency, who will seek election as an independent enjoying the
support
of the signatories belonging to the same constituency.

Rather than devaluing my vote by voting 'against' the candidates chosen

by
your political parties, I wish to cast my vote 'for' good governance.

It is my endeavour to circulate this petition in every Indian language

to
every nook and corner of this country, by email and on paper, across the
internet and on foot, to solicit thumbprint and signature.

I beseech you not to ignore the pleas of this petition. I look forward
to
your co-operation and the opportunity to participate in bringing the
change
I wish to see in our great democracy.
Signed
This is a list of recognised political parties in India. India has a multi-party system with
a predominance of small regional parties. Parties that wish to contest local, state or
national elections are required to be registered by the Election Commission of India (EC).

To gain recognition as a state party, the party must have some kind of political activity
for at least five continuous years, and send at least 4% of the state's quota to the Lok
Sabha (India's Lower house), or 3.33% of members to the state assembly. If the above
conditions are not fulfilled, then a party may gain recognition by garnering not less than
6% of the total votes in a state or national election, polled in by all its contesting
candidates. If a party is recognised in four or more states, it is automatically recognised
as a national party by the EC.

All parties contesting elections have to choose a symbol from a list of available symbols
offered by the Election Commission. All 28 states along with the union territory of
Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi usually have an elected
government unless President's rule is imposed under certain conditions.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 National
• 2 State
• 3 Notes
• 4 See also

• 5 References

[edit] National
Seven parties are recognised as national parties.[1] They are listed by name, together with
acronym, year of formation and the party leader.

SYMBOL NAME ACRONYM YEAR CHIEF

File:ECI-
Bahujan Samaj Party BSP 1995 Mayawati
elephant.png
Bharatiya Janata Party BJP 1980 Rajnath Singh
Communist Party of India CPI 1925[1] A.B. Bardhan
Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI (M) 1964 Prakash Karat
Indian National Congress INC 1885 Sonia Gandhi
Nationalist Congress Party NCP 1998 Sharad Pawar
Lalu Prasad
Rashtriya Janata Dal RJD 1996
Yadav
[edit] State
If a party is recognised as a state party by the Election Commission, it can reserve a
symbol for its exclusive use in the state. The following are a list of recognised state
parties as of April 2009.[1]

SYMBOL NAME ACR. YEAR CHIEF STATES

All India Anna Dravida Tamil Nadu,

AIADMK J. Jayalitha
Munnetra Kazhagam Puducherry
Debabrata
All India Forward Bloc AIFB 1939 West Bengal
Biswas
Meghalaya,
All India Trinamool Congress AITC 2004 Mamta Banerjee
West Bengal
Arunachal
Arunachal Congress AC 1996 Kamen Ringu
Pradesh
Prafulla Kumar
Asom Gana Parishad AGP 1985 Assam
Mahanta
Assam United Democratic Badruddin
AUDF Assam
Front Ajmal
Biju Janata Dal BJD 1997 Naveen Patnaik Orissa
Tamil Nadu,
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam DMK 1949 M Karunanidhi
Puducherry
Om Prakash
Indian National Lok Dal INLD 1999 Haryana
Chautala
Jammu & Kashmir National Jammu and
JKNC 1932 Omar Abdullah
Conference Kashmir
Jammu & Kashmir National Jammu and
JKNPP NA Bhim Singh
Panthers Party Kashmir
Mufti
Jammu and Kashmir People's Jammu and
PDP 1998 Mohammed
Democratic Party Kashmir
Sayeed
H.D. Deve Karnataka,
Janata Dal (Secular) JD (S) 1999
Gowda Kerala
Janata Dal (United) JD (U) 1999 Nitish Kumar Bihar, Jharkhand
Jharkhand,
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JMM 1972 Shibu Soren
Orissa
Kerala Congress KEC 1964 P.J. Joseph Kerala
Kerala Congress (Mani) KEC (M) 1979 C.F Thomas Kerala
Ram Vilas
Lok Jan Shakti Party LJSP Bihar
Paswan
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Shashikala
MAG 1963 Goa
Party Kakodkar
Manipur People's Party MPP 1968 O. Joy Singh Manipur
Marumalarchi Dravida
MDMK 1993 Vaiko Tamil Nadu
Munnetra Kazhagam
Mizo National Front MDF 1959 Pu Zoramthanga Mizoram
 Pu
Mizoram People's Conference MPC 1972 Mizoram
Lalhmingthanga
Muslim League Kerala State G.M.
MUL 1948 Kerala
Committee Banatwalla
Nagaland People's Front NPF 2002 Neiphiu Rio Nagaland
National People's Party NPP Manipur
Tamil Nadu,
Pattali Makkal Katchi PMK 1989 G.K. Mani
Puducherry
Pudhucherry Munnetra
PMC 2005 P. Kannan Puducherry
Congress
T.J.
Revolutionary Socialist Party RSP 1940 West Bengal
Chandrachoodan
Madhya Pradesh,
Mulayam Singh
Samajwadi Party SP 1992 Uttar Pradesh,
Yadav
Uttarakhand
Save Goa Front SGF Goa
Parkash Singh
Shiromani Akali Dal SAD 1920 Punjab
Badal
Uddhav
Shiv Sena SHS 1966 Maharashtra
Thackeray[2]
Pawan Kumar
Sikkim Democratic Front SDF 1993 Sikkim
Chamling
Telangana Rashtra Samithi TRS Andhra Pradesh
N. Chandrababu
Telugu Desam Party TDP 1982 Andhra Pradesh
Naidu
United Democratic Party UDP NA Donkupar Roy Meghalaya
Bipin Chandra
Uttarakhand Kranti Dal UKKD 1979 Uttarakhand
Tripathi
Zoram Nationalist Party ZNP 1997 Lalduhomo Mizoram
1. Introduction.

India is a constitutional democracy with a parliamentary system of government, and at the heart of the
system is a commitment to hold regular, free and fair elections. These elections determine the composition
of the government, the membership of the two houses of parliament, the state and union territory legislative
assemblies, and the Presidency and vice-presidency.(Back)

2. Indian Elections -Scale of Operation.

Elections in India are events involving political mobilisation and organisational complexity on an amazing
scale. In the 1996 election to Lok Sabha there were 1,269 candidates from 38 officially recognised national
and state parties seeking election, 1,048 candidates from registered parties, not recognised and 10,635
independent candidates. A total number of 59,25,72,288 people voted. The Election Commission employed
almost 40,00,000 people to run the election. A vast number if civilian police and security forces were
deployed to ensure that the elections were carried out peacefully. The direct cost of organising the election
amounted to approximately Rs. 5,180 million.(Back)

3. Constituencies & Reservation of Seats.

The country has been divided into 543 Parliamentary Constituencies, each of which returns one MP to the
Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament. The size and shape of the parliamentary constituencies are
determined by an independent Delimitation Commission, which aims to create constituencies which have
roughly the same population, subject to geographical considerations and the boundaries of the states and
administrative areas.(Back)

4. How Constituency Boundaries are drawn up?

Delimitation is the redrawing of the boundaries of parliamentary or assembly constituencies to make sure
that there are, as near as practicable, the same number of people in each constituency. In India boundaries
are meant to be examined after the ten-yearly census to reflect changes in population, for which Parliament
by law establishes an independent Delimitation Commission, made up of the Chief Election Commissioner
and two judges or ex-judges from the Supreme Court or High Court. However, under a constitutional
amendment of 1976, delimitation was suspended until after the census of 2001, ostensibly so that states’
family-planning programmes would not affect their political representation in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan
Sabhas. This has led to wide discrepancies in the size of constituencies, with the largest having over
25,00,000 electors, and the smallest less than 50,000.(Back)
5. Reservation of Seats.

The Constitution puts a limit on the size of the Lok Sabha of 550 elected members, apart from two members
who can be nominated by the President to represent the Anglo-Indian community. There are also provisions
to ensure the representation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, with reserved constituencies where
only candidates from these communities can stand for election. There was an attempt to pass legislation to
introduce reserved one third of the seats for female candidates but the dissolution of Lok Sabha for the 1998
election occurred before the bill had completed its passage through parliament.(Back)

6. Parliament.

The Parliament of the Union consists of the President, the Lok Sabha (House of the People) and the Rajya
Sabha (Council of States). The President is the head of state, and he appoints the Prime Minister, who runs
the government, according to the political composition of the Lok Sabha. Although the government is
headed by a Prime Minister, the Cabinet is the central decision making body of the government. Members of
more than one party can make up a government, and although the governing parties may be a minority in
the Lok Sabha, they can only govern as long as they have the confidence of a majority of MPs, the members
of the Lok Sabha. As well as being the body, which determines whom, makes up the government, the Lok
Sabha is the main legislative body, along with the Rajya Sabha.(Back)

7. Rajya Sabha - The Council of States.

The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected indirectly, rather than by the citizens at large. Rajya Sabha
members are elected by each state Vidhan Sabha using the single transferable vote system. Unlike most
federal systems, the number of members returned by each state is roughly in proportion to their population.
At present there are 233 members of the Rajya Sabha elected by the Vidhan Sabhas, and there are also
twelve members nominated by the President as representatives of literature, science, art and social
services. Rajya Sabha members can serve for six years, and elections are staggered, with one third of the
assembly being elected every 2 years.

Nominated members
The president can nominate 2 members of the Lok Sabha if it is felt that the representation of the Anglo-
Indian community is inadequate, and 12 members of the Rajya Sabha, to represent literature, science, art
and the social services.(Back)

8. State Assemblies.

India is a federal country, and the Constitution gives the states and union territories significant control over
their own government. The Vidhan Sabhas (legislative assemblies) is directly elected bodies set up to
carrying out the administration of the government in the 25 States of India. In some states there is a
bicameral organisation of legislatures, with both an upper and Lower House. Two of the seven Union
Territories viz., the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Pondicherry, have also legislative assemblies.

Elections to the Vidhan Sabhas are carried out in the same manner as for the Lok Sabha election, with the
states and union territories divided into single-member constituencies, and the first-past-the-post electoral
system used. The assemblies range in size, according to population. The largest Vidhan Sabha is for Uttar
Pradesh, with 425 members; the smallest Pondicherry, with 30 members.(Back)

. President and Vice-President.

The President is elected by the elected members of the Vidhan Sabhas, Lok Sabha, and Rajya Sabha, and
serves for a period of 5 years (although they can stand for re-election). A formula is used to allocate votes
so there is a balance between the population of each state and the number of votes assembly members
from a state can cast, and to give an equal balance between state and national assembly Parliament
members. If no candidate receives a majority of votes there is a system by which losing candidates are
eliminated from the contest and votes for them transferred to other candidates, until one gain a majority. The
Vice President is elected by a direct vote of all members elected and nominated, of the Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha.

The single transferable vote system. Election for the members of the Rajya Sabha and the President are
carried out using the single transferable vote system. The single transferable vote system is designed to
ensure more diverse representation, by reducing the opportunity for blocks of voters to dominate minorities.
The ballot paper lists all candidates standing for election and the voters' list them in order of preference. A
threshold number of votes, known as the ‘quota’ is set, which candidates have to achieve to be elected. For
presidential elections the quota is set at one more than half the number of votes, ensuring that the winner is
the candidate who gets a clear majority. For the Rajya Sabha the quota is set at the number of votes that
can be attained by just enough MPs to fill all the seats but no more. Votes that are deemed surplus, those
given to candidates who have already got a full quota of votes, or votes given to candidates who are
deemed to be losing candidates, are transferred according to the voter’s listed preferences, until the right
number of candidates have been elected.(Back)

10. Independent Election Commission.

An independent Election Commission has been established under the Constitution in order to carry out and
regulate the holding of elections in India.

The Election Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950.
Originally a Chief Election Commissioner ran the commission, but first in 1989 and later again in 1993 two
additional Election Commissioners were appointed.

The Election Commission is responsible for the conduct of elections to parliament and state legislatures and
to the offices of the President and Vice-President.

The Election Commission prepares, maintains and periodically updates the Electoral Roll, which shows who
is entitled to vote, supervises the nomination of candidates, registers political parties, monitors the election
campaign, including candidates’ funding. It also facilitates the coverage of the election process by the
media, organises the polling booths where voting takes place, and looks after the counting of votes and the
declaration of results. All this is done to ensure that elections can take place in an orderly and fair manner.
At present, there are two Election Commissioners appointed by the President. Chief Election Commissioner
can be removed from office only by parliamentary impeachment.

The Commission decides most matters by consensus but in case of any dissension, the majority view
prevails.

Election Commission :
Present composition Dr. M.S .GILL - Chief Election Commissioner
Dr. G.V.G. Krishnamurthy - Election Commissioner
Mr. J.M. Lynogdoh - Election Commissioner

Chief Election Commissioners :

Sukumar Sen : 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958
KVK Sundaram : 20 December 1958 to 30 September 1967
SP Sen Verma : 1 October 1967 to 30 September 1972
Dr Nagendra Singh : 1 October 1972 to 6 February 1973
T Swaminathan : 7 February 1973 to 17 June 1977
SL Shakdhar : 18 June 1977 to 17 June 1982
RK Trivedi : 18 June 1982 to 31 December 1985
RVS Peri Sastri : 1 January 1986 to 25 November 1990
Smt VS Ramadevi : 26 November 1990 to 11 December 1990
TN Seshan : 12 December 1990 to 11 December 1996
MS Gill : 12 December 1996 to present

The Commission has its headquarters in New Delhi, with a Secretariat of some 300 staff members. At the
state level a Chief Electoral Officer with a core staff of varying numbers, is available on a full time basis. At
the district and constituency level, officers and staff of the civil administration double up as Election officials.
During actual conduct of elections, a vast number of additional staff are temporarily drafted for about two
weeks. They function mainly as polling and counting officials.(Back)
The democratic system in India is based on the principle of universal adult suffrage; that any citizen over the
age of 18 can vote in an election (before 1989 the age limit was 21). The right to vote is irrespective of
caste, creed, religion or gender. Those who are deemed unsound of mind, and people convicted of certain
criminal offences are not allowed to vote.

There has been a general increase in the number of people voting in Indian elections. In 1952 61.16 per
cent of the electorate voted. By 1996 the turnout for the general election was 57.94 per cent. There have
been even more rapid increases in the turnout of women and members of the scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes, who had tended to be far less likely to participate in elections, and voting for these groups
has moved closer to the national average. (Back)

12. The Electoral Roll.

The electoral roll is a list of all people in the constituency who are registered to vote in Indian Elections. Only
those people with their names on the electoral roll are allowed to vote. The electoral roll is normally revised
every year to add the names of those who are to turn 18 on the 1st January of that year or have moved into
a constituency and to remove the names of those who have died or moved out of a constituency. If you are
eligible to vote and are not on the electoral roll, you can apply to the Electoral Registration Officer of the
constituency, who will update the register. The updating of the Electoral Roll only stops during an election
campaign, after the nominations for candidates have closed.(Back)

13. Computerisation of Rolls.

The Election Commission is currently undertaking the computerisation of the electoral rolls throughout India,
which should lead to improvements in the accuracy and speed with which the electoral roll can be updated.
This has already been completed in the northern states of Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and the
Eastern state of Tripura and Rolls in the new computerised format put to use for the general Election in
1998.(Back)

14. Electors' Photo Identity Cards.

In an attempt to improve the accuracy of the electoral roll and prevent electoral fraud, the Election
Commission has pressed for the introduction of photo identity cards for voters. This is a massive task, and at
present over 338 million have been provided. The Commission is providing ways and methods to deal with
the problems with the issue of cards, and difficulties in keeping track of voters, especially the mobile urban
electorate.(Back)

15. When do elections take place?

Elections for the Lok Sabha and every State Legislative Assembly have to take place every five years,
unless called earlier. The President can dissolve Lok Sabha and call a general election before five years is
up, if the government can no longer command the confidence of the Lok Sabha, and if there is no alternative
government available to take over.

General elections to the Lok Sabha took place in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1971, 1977, 1980, 1984, 1989,
1991 and 1996, and the twelfth Lok Sabha general election is currently being held in February-March 1998.
Governments have found it increasingly difficult to stay in power for the full term of a Lok Sabha in recent
times, and so elections have often been held before the five-year limit has been reached. A constitutional
amendment passed in 1975, as part of the government declared emergency, postponed the election due to
be held in 1976. This amendment was later rescinded, and regular elections resumed in 1977.

Other measures have been taken to adjust the timetable of elections when civil unrest has made the holding
of elections problematic. Disturbances in Jammu and Kashmir, the Punjab, and Assam have led to the
postponement of elections. Holding of regular elections can only be stopped by means of a constitutional
amendment and in consultation with the Election Commission, and it is recognised that interruptions of
regular elections are acceptable only in extraordinary circumstances.(Back)

16. Scheduling the Elections.

When the five-year limit is up, or the legislature has been dissolved and new elections have been called, the
Election Commission puts into effect the machinery for holding an election. The constitution states that there
can be no longer than 6 months between the last session of the dissolved Lok Sabha and the recalling of the
new House, so elections have to be concluded before then.

In a country as huge and diverse as India, finding a period when elections can be held throughout the
country is not simple. The Election Commission, which decides the schedule for elections, has to take
account of the weather - during winter constituencies may be snow-bound, and during the monsoon access
to remote areas restricted -, the agricultural cycle - so that the planting or harvesting of crops is not
disrupted, exam schedules - as schools are used as polling stations and teachers employed as election
officials, and religious festivals and public holidays. On top of this there are the logistical difficulties that go
with holding an election - sending out ballot boxes, setting up polling booths, recruiting officials to oversee
the elections.(Back)

17. Who can stand for Election.

Any Indian citizen who is registered as a voter and is over 25 years of age is allowed to contest elections to
the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assemblies. For the Rajya Sabha the age limit is 30 years. Candidates
for the Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Sabha should be a resident of the same state as the constituency from
which they wish to contest.

Every candidate has to make a deposit of Rs. 10,000/- for Lok Sabha election and 5,000/- for Rajya Sabha
or Vidhan Sabha elections, except for candidates from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who
pay half of these amounts. The deposit is returned if the candidate receives more than one-sixth of the total
number of valid votes polled in the constituency. Nominations must be supported at least by one registered
elector of the constituency, in the case of a candidate sponsored by a registered Party and by ten registered
electors from the constituency in the case of other candidates. Returning Officers, appointed by the Election
Commission, are put in charge to receive nominations of candidates in each constituency, and oversee the
formalities of the election.

In a number of seats in the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha, the candidates can only be from either one of
the scheduled castes or scheduled tribes. The number of these reserved seats is meant to be approximately
in proportion to the number of people from scheduled castes or scheduled tribes in each state. There are
currently 79 seats reserved for the scheduled castes and 41 reserved for the scheduled tribes in the Lok
Sabha. (Back)

18. Number of Candidates.

The number of candidates contesting each election has steadily increased. In the general election of 1952
the average number of candidates in each constituency was 3.8; by 1991 it had risen to 16.3, and in 1996
stood at 25.6. Some commentators have criticised the openness of the nomination process, arguing that it is
far too easy for ‘frivolous’ candidates to stand for election, and that this confuses the electoral process.
Certain remedial measures have been taken in August 1996, which included increasing the size of the
deposit and making the number of people who have to nominate a candidate larger. The impact of such
measures was quite considerable at the elections which were subsequently held in Uttar Pradesh in
October, 1996, where the number of contestants Come down quite significantly. In 1998 the number of
nominations for the Lok Sabha has come down to , an average of per constituency and % lower than the
figures for 1996.(Back)
19. Campaign.

The campaign is the period when the political parties put forward their candidates and arguments with which
they hope to persuade people to vote for their candidates and parties. Candidates are given a week to put
forward their nominations. These are scrutinised by the Returning Officers and if not found to be in order can
be rejected after a summary hearing. Validly nominated candidates can withdraw within two days after
nominations have been scrutinised. The official campaign lasts at least two weeks from the drawing up of
the list of nominated candidates, and officially ends 48 hours before polling closes.

During the election campaign the political parties and contesting candidates are expected to abide by a
Model Code of Conduct evolved by the Election Commission on the basis of a consensus among political
parties. The model Code lays down broad guidelines as to how the political parties and candidates should
conduct themselves during the election campaign. It is intended to maintain the election campaign on
healthy lines, avoid clashes and conflicts between political parties or their supporters and to ensure peace
and order during the campaign period and thereafter, until the results are declared. The model code also
prescribes guidelines for the ruling party either at the Centre or in the State to ensure that a level field in
maintained and that no cause is given for any complaint that the ruling party has used its official position for
the purposes of its election campaign.

Once an election has been called, parties issue manifestos detailing the programmes they wish to
implement if elected to government, the strengths of their leaders, and the failures of opposing parties and
their leaders. Slogans are used to popularise and identify parties and issues, and pamphlets and posters
distributed to the electorate. Rallies and meetings where the candidates try to persuade, cajole and enthuse
supporters, and denigrate opponents, are held throughout the constituencies. Personal appeals and
promises of reform are made, with candidates travelling the length and breadth of the constituency to try to
influence as many potential supporters as possible. Party symbols abound, printed on posters and placards.
(Back)

20. Polling Days.

Polling is normally held on a number of different days in different constituencies, to enable the security
forces and those monitoring the election to keep law and order and ensure that voting during the election is
fair.(Back)

21. Ballot Papers & Symbols.

After nomination of candidates is complete, a list of competing candidates is prepared by the Returning
Officer, and ballot papers are printed. Ballot papers are printed with the names of the candidates (in
languages set by the Election Commission) and the symbols allotted to each of the candidates. Candidates
of recognised Parties are allotted their Party symbols. Some electors, including members of the armed
forces or government of India.(Back)

22. How the voting takes place?

Voting is by secret ballot. Polling stations are usually set up in public institutions, such as schools and
community halls. To enable as many electors as possible to vote, the officials of the Election Commission try
to ensure that there is a polling station within 2km of every voter, and that no polling stations should have to
deal with more than 1200 voters. Each polling station is open for at least 8 hours on the day of the election.

On entering the polling station, the elector is checked against the Electoral Roll, and allocated a ballot paper.
The elector votes by marking the ballot paper with a rubber stamp on or near the symbol of the candidate of
his choice, inside a screened compartment in the polling station. The voter then folds the ballot paper and
inserts it in a common ballot box which is kept in full view of the Presiding Officer and polling agents of the
candidates. This marking system eliminates the possibility of ballot papers being surreptitiously taken out of
the polling station or not being put in the ballot box.(Back)

Political parties are an established part of modern mass democracy, and the conduct of elections in India is
largely dependent on the behaviour of political parties. Although many candidates for Indian elections are
independent, the winning candidates for Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections usually stand as members
of political parties, and opinion polls suggest that people tend to vote for a party rather than a particular
candidate. Parties offer candidates organisational support, and by offering a broader election campaign,
looking at the record of government and putting forward alternative proposals for government, help voters
make a choice about how the government is run.(Back)

24. Registration with Election Commission.

Political parties have to be registered with the Election Commission. The Commission determines whether
the party is structured and committed to principles of democracy, secularism and socialism in accordance
with the Indian Constitution and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. Parties are
expected to hold organisational elections and have a written constitution. The Anti-defection law, passed in
1985, prevents MPs or MLAs elected as candidates from one party forming or joining a new party, unless
they comprise more than one-third of the original party in the legislature.(Back)

25. Recognition and Reservation of Symbols.

According to certain criteria, set by the Election Commission regarding the length of political activity and
success in elections, parties are categorised by the Commission as National or State parties, or simply
declared registered-unrecognised parties. How a party is classified determines a party’s right to certain
privileges, such as access to electoral rolls and provision of time for political broadcasts on the state-owned
television and radio stations - All India Radio and Doordarshan - and also the important question of the
allocation of the party symbol. Party symbols enable illiterate voters to identify the candidate of the party
they wish to vote for. National parties are given a symbol that is for their use only, throughout the country.
State parties have the sole use of a symbol in the state in which they are recognised as such Registered-
unrecognised parties can choose a symbol from a selection of ‘free’ symbols.(Back)

26. Limit on poll expenses.

There are tight legal limits on the amount of money a candidate can spend during the election campaign. In
most Lok Sabha constituencies the limit as recently amended in December, 1997 is Rs 15,00,000/-,
although in some States the limit is Rs 6,00,000/- (for Vidhan Sabha elections the highest limit is Rs
6,00,000/-, the lowest Rs 3,00,000/-). Although supporters of a candidate can spend as much as they like to
help out with a campaign, they have to get written permission of the candidate, and whilst parties are
allowed to spend as much money on campaigns as they want, recent Supreme Court judgements have said
that, unless a political party can specifically account for money spent during the campaign, it will consider
any activities as being funded by the candidates and counting towards their election expenses. The
accountability imposed on the candidates and parties has curtailed some of the more extravagant
campaigning that was previously a part of Indian elections.(Back)

27. Free Campaign time on state owned electronic media.

By a recent order of the Election Commission, all recognised National and State parties have been allowed
free access to the state owned electronic media-AIR and Doordarshan- on an extensive scale for their
campaigns during elections. The total free time allocated extends over 122 hours on the state owned
Television and Radio channels. This is allocated equitably by combining a base limit and additional time
linked to poll performance of the party in recent election.(Back)
28. Splits and mergers and anti-defection law.

Splits, mergers and alliances have frequently disrupted the compositions of political parties. This has led to a
number of disputes over which section of a divided party gets to keep the party symbol, and how to classify
the resulting parties in terms of national and state parties. The Election Commission has to resolve these
disputes, although its decisions can be challenged in the courts. As of 1998 there are 7 National Parties, and
35 State Parties, with 620 registered-unrecognised parties.(Back)

29. Election Petitions.

Any elector or candidate can file an election petition if he or she thinks there has been malpractice during
the election. An election petition is not an ordinary civil suit, but treated as a contest in which the whole
constituency is involved. Election petitions are tried by the High Court of the State involved, and if upheld
can even lead to the restaging of the election in that constituency. In the 1996 general election xx election
petitions were upheld, and in x constituencies the result was countermanded and bye-elections held.(Back)

30. Supervising Elections, Election Observers.

The Election Commission appoints a large number of Observers to ensure that the campaign is conducted
fairly, and that people are free to vote as they choose. Election expenditure Observers keeps a check on the
amount that each candidate and party spends on the election.(Back)

31. Counting of Votes.

After the polling has finished, the votes are counted under the supervision of Returning Officers and
Observers appointed by the Election Commission. After the counting of votes is over, the Returning Officer
declares the name of the candidate to whom the largest number of votes have been given as the winner,
and as having been returned by the constituency to the concerned house.(Back)

32. Media Coverage.

In order to bring as much transparency as possible to the electoral process, the media are encouraged and
provided with facilities to cover the election, although subject to maintaining the secrecy of the vote. Media
persons are given special passes to enter polling stations to cover the poll process and the counting halls
during the actual counting of votes.

Media are also free to conduct Opinion Polls and Exit Polls. By a recent set of Guideline issued, the Election
Commission has stipulated that the results of opinion polls can not be published between two days before
the start of polling and after the close of poll in any of the constituencies. Results of exit polls can only be
published or made otherwise known only after half an hour of the end of polling hours on the last day of poll
28th of February in the present election of 1998.(Back)

33. Parliament.

The Parliament of the Union consists of the President, the Lok Sabha (House of the People) and the Rajya
Sabha (Council of States). The President is the head of state, and he appoints the Prime Minister, who runs
the government, according to the political composition of the Lok Sabha. Although the government is
headed by a Prime Minister, the Cabinet is the central decision making body of the government. Members of
more than one party can make up a government, and although the governing parties may be a minority in
the Lok Sabha, they can only govern as long as they have the confidence of a majority of MPs, the members
of the Lok Sabha. As well as being the body, which determines whom, makes up the government, the Lok
Sabha is the main legislative body, along with the Rajya Sabha.(Back)
34. The Electronic Voting Machine – An
Electronic Marvel.

Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) retains all the

characteristics of voting by ballot papers, while
making polling a lot more expedient. Being fast and
absolutely reliable, the EVM saves considerable time,
money and manpower. And, of course, helps maintain
total voting secrecy without the use of ballot papers.
The EVM is 100 per cent tamper proof. And, at the
end of the polling, just press a button and there you
have the results.

What does an EVM unit comprise of ?

The EVM consists of two units that can be inter-linked.
One, a ballot unit which a voter uses to exercise his
vote. And the other, a control unit – used by the
polling officials.
The Ballot Unit : An electronic ballot box.
A simple voting device, it displays the list of
candidates. A facility to incorporate party names and
symbols is in-built. All the voter has to do is press the
desired switch located next to the name of each
candidate. The main advantage is the speed, apart
from the simplicity of operation, which requires no
training at all. A single ballot unit takes in the names
of 16 candidates. And thus, by connecting four ballot
units the EVM can accommodate a total of 64
candidates in a single election.

The control Unit : In Total control of the polling

Conduction of polling, display of total votes polled,
sealing at the end of the poll, and finally, declaration
of results – these are the various accomplishments of
just one gadget : the control unit. In total control of the
polling, this electronic unit gives you all necessary
information at a press of a few buttons. For instance, if
you need to know the total number of votes, you just
have to press the Total switch. Candidates-wise
results can be had only at the end of polling.

Independent & Reliable

The EVM is compact and comes in its reusable carry
pack. Further, the EVM works/operates on a battery
power source. Making it independent and totally
reliable.

Hi-tech Simplicity
To commence polling, the polling officer activates the
"Ballot" switch on the control unit. The voter then has
to press the button of his choice on the ballot unit.
This is followed by a short beep sound, indicating that
the vote has been cast. Once again, the polling officer
has to press the "Ballot" switch to clear the machine
for the next voter to cast his vote.

Super-sensitive circuitry : No invalid votes

Inside the control unit, hidden from you, is an
extremely sensitive circuitry that takes care of
common election errors or malpractices like vote
duplication. For instance, if one were to press two or
more buttons simultaneously, then no vote would be
cast. Even if there was a micro-second difference in
the pressing of the switches, the EVM is sensitive
enough to trace and identify the twitch that was press
first.

Instant results
Once polling is completed, the election results can be
known instantly at the counting station by pressing the
'‘Result'’switch. This switch is located in a sealed
compartment of the control unit.

Tamper proof design

The EVM is designed to be totally tamper proof. Each
EVM comes with a sophisticated programme in
assembly language : a software fully seated against
outside influence. And the programme is itself fused
on to a customised micro processor chip at the
manufacturer’s end. This ensures that the program is
rendered tamper proof and inaccessible.

Result Printout
Normally, an EVM displays results on the display
panel of the control unit. But a printout option is
available with the use of a Download Adaptor Unit
(DAU). The DAU has to be connected to the control
unit and any standard printer. Further, with the help of
a modem, the DAU can also enable transmission of
voting information to a distant centralised computer.

How To Cast Vote Through Electornic Voting

Machine

A. Voter will be called by name as usual to put

his signature on Voting Register.
B. Electoral Officer will put special ink on his
finger as usual.
C. Electoral Officer will hand over a slip
containing voter’s serial number as shown in
the Voter Register.
D. Voter will hand over the slip to Presiding
Officer . He will satisfy himself about the
genuineness of the particulars of the voter.
E. After all these formalities, voter will be asked
to reach at Electronic Voting Machine kept in
a corner covered from sides to maintain
secrecy of the vote.
F. Voting Machine will contain candidates name
and symbol against each name. There will be
a red light and a blue button. Voter shall
have to press the blue button against the
candidate of the choice. Red light will appear
on the pressing of blue button and sound like
whistle will also be heard which will indicate
that the ballot has been casted. If red light
does not appear voter can press the blue
 button again.(Back)

<< Back
Number of constituencies voting on
different poll days in states & union
territories
STATES/
Constituencies PHASES POLL DATES AND PHASE
UTs
16-Apr- 23-Apr- 30-Apr- 13-May-
07-May-09
09 09 09 09
PHASE1 PHASE2 PHASE3 PHASE4 PHASE5
Andhra
42 2 22 20
Pradesh
Arunachal
2 1 2
Pradesh
Assam 14 2 3 11

Bihar 40 4 13 13 11 3

Goa 2 1 2

Gujarat 26 1 26

Haryana 10 1 10
Himachal
4 1 4
Pradesh
Jammu &
6 5 1 1 1 1 2
Kashmir
Karnataka 28 2 17 11

Kerala 20 1 20
Madhya
29 2 13 16
Pradesh
Maharashtra 48 3 13 25 10

Manipur 2 2 1 1

Meghalaya 2 1 2

Mizoram 1 1 1

Nagaland 1 1 1

Orissa 21 2 10 11

Punjab 13 2 4 9

Rajasthan 25 1 25

Sikkim 1 1 1

Tamil Nadu 39 1 39

Tripura 2 1 2
Uttar
80 5 16 17 15 18 14
Pradesh
West Bengal 42 3 14 17 11

Chhattisgarh 11 1 11

Jharkhand 14 2 6 8

Uttaranchal 5 1 5
Andaman &
Nicobar 1 1 1
Islands
Chandigarh 1 1 1
UPA govt declares its new agenda

On Thursday, President Pratibha Patil presented the new Government's agenda that includes the economy
revival by investing more in the sectors such as infrastructure, a blueprint for national security and a host of
social welfare programmes focusing on the creation of a more inclusive society and economy.

President Pratibha Patil said, "In 2004 my Government had set before the country a vision of an inclusive
society and an inclusive economy. My Government sees the overwhelming mandate it has received as a
vindication of the policy architecture that it put in place."

The UPA led-Congress after coming to the power met for the first time post Lok Sabha elections in a joint
session addressed by the President. The session was attended by over 700 MPs of the Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha.

After the declaration of the policies and programmes of the new Government, the President highlighted 10
areas that includes internal security, growth in agriculture and health and education, governance form and
energy security and would get billing during Manmohan's second term in office. Welfare of the common
man, urban employment and recession issues are of priority to the Governments concern. The new UPA
Government will guarantee 25 kg of rice or wheat per month to the families that are below the poverty line.

Welfare programmes like the rural job scheme by enlarging the scope of works permitted under it, would be
strengthened by the Government. This scheme is for unskilled manual work only. Measures will be taken
against the issues related to the minority communities. The Government will also set up an equal opportunity
commission as part of a slew of measures for the welfare of the minority communities, said Patil.

Economical growth with the fiscal concern and to encourage foreign investment inflows, list shares of state-
run firms on stock markets and pump more capital in banks will be of great concern to the new Government.
Election Alliances / Political Alliances
15th Lok Sabha Election 2009 Assembly Election Results 2009
Result Updates Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Sikkim

National Democratic Alliance --BJP and its Allies

• Bharatiya Janata Party

• Shiv Sena - Maharashtra
• Janata Dal (United) - Bihar and Karnataka
• Shiromani Akali Dal - Punjab
• Indian National Lok Dal - Haryana
• Asom Gana Parishad - Assam
• Rashtriya Lok Dal - Uttar Pradesh
• Nagaland People's Front-Nagaland

Congress and its Allies - (UPA)

• Indian National Congress

• Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
• Nationalist Congress Party
• Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
• All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
• Republican Party of India (Athvale)
• Sikkim Democratic Front
• Indian Union Muslim League
• Trinamool Congress

Third Front

• Biju Janata Dal - BJD

• Communist Party of India - CPI
• Communist Party of India (Marxist) - CPM
• Revolutionary Socialist Party - RSP
• All India Forward Bloc
• Telugu Desam Party - TDP
• Telangana Rastrasa Samithi - TRS
• AIADMK
• Janta Dal (Secular) - JD(S)
• Haryana Janahit Party
•

Election Cartoons & Caricatures

15th Lok Sabha Election 2009 Assembly Election Results
Result Updates 2009
Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Sikkim
• A number of party officials and actors across the spectrum of political parties in
our country tend to approach the management of parties with mental models
similar to those employed in the management of formal bureaucratic
organisations. I contend that this is not only ineffective but also divisive because
it tends to alienate segments of target membership from involvement and
participation in party activities.

Formal bureaucracies tend to have clearly defined rules and modes of

engagement. Besides members tend to have clearly defined roles and are often
subjected to performance measurement as the basis for progression. Importantly,
there exist a direct and immediate input–outcome/reward relationship that binds
employees and employers. Formal bureaucracies seldom engage in mass internal
membership drive, save for customers and the drive for increasing market share.
They have a 'single corporate mind' or management that develops the strategic
plans in consonance with the organisations 'strategic intent' or vision, which is
necessarily shared by members at all levels. These then inform tactical and
operational programmes often drawn by middle level managers and operational
staff.

Formal bureaucracies tend to have only one leader at the apex of the hierarchy,
with a clearly defined chain of authority. Employees by their terms of engagement
are obliged to accept legitimate orders from a specified superior. Coherence,
discipline, order and a guaranteed mutuality of interest, consequently derive from
the above picture. This generates relative harmony for a focused pursuance of
defined corporate goals and objectives.

Political parties are different in very many respects. The purpose and mission,
driving force and configuration of their membership, as well as the inherent
diversity of interests and the dynamics of power competition that characterises
their internal environment, set them apart from strictly formal bureaucracies and
informal organisation alike.

Like bureaucratic organisations, political parties also recruit new members. What
is significant, however, is their continuous, free and open door policy to
membership and participation, which attracts little or no inhibitions. Parties also
undertake aggressive membership drive spiced with occasional poaching from
rival parties using a combination of material influence and coercion as recorded in
very recent Ghanaian politics.

The general tendency, though, is to apply conventional business organisation

principles to public service as well as what can be termed 'unconventional
business'. This may, however, have its limitations within the context of political
party organisations. Be that as it may, what is consistent irrespective of the
context, however, is the validity of the fact that 'what gets measured gets
managed' in all management situations and circumstances.
Political parties thrive on patronage and may have multiple layers and levels of
leaders. The forces and factors that drive patronage may be varied and complex.
Some parties may have 'charismatic' leaders who may attract significant
membership or patronage. Others may join a political party because they identify
with its culture and philosophy. Some also are attracted by a party's alternative
development strategies, as reflected in party manifestos. There are those who
follow specific individuals or opinion leaders, such as, Chiefs, Members of
Parliament or Parliamentary candidates, Assemblymen and women, spouses,
family relations, and friends. The diversity of interests that make up a political
party, among others, include business interests, as well as the opportunity to offer
and apply ones ability, skills, and competence to public office, and service to ones
nation.

Despite the growing global perception that there is a tendency towards a

convergence of political ideals, it is becoming critical and essential that parties
define and maintain a 'loose-tight' type of membership ethos (culture and
philosophy) and discipline. Parties, the world over, tend to position themselves
along the continuum of the global 'left–right' political divide, and seek to
propagate their world outlook and internal culture, that sets them apart from other
parties. A mere ideological nomenclature expressed in terms of such slogans as a
belief in 'property owning democracy', without sufficient expatiation may be
inadequate. On the other hand, a social democratic agenda, which combines with
a thoughtfully set out manifesto, may be commendable in this regard.

Furthermore increasing sophistication of our individual membership and the

complex expectation of our general electorate as a whole, demand that political
parties develop conscious and effective strategies to market concrete programmes
to the electorate. This could bring to the fore an appreciation of the desires and
preferences of our valued customers or electorate for that matter, who must be
placed at the centre of all party choices and decisions. Self-serving and
speculative judgements, spiced with jaundiced reasoning and analysis should give
way to a more scientific analysis of social and political developments.

Our democratic dispensation has penetrated the fabric of all social arrangements
and institutions, threatening even our revered chieftaincy institution and civil /
public services. Ghanaians have developed very passionate democratic sentiments
and tend to frown on what they perceive as contrived and therefore illegitimate.
This can be measured by the litany of intra and inter-communal disputes. The
bottom line has been the desire for broader consultation and participation.

Political parties, which serve, as the breeding grounds for democratic aspirations
and practices therefore, must set unambiguous examples. They cannot afford to
subtly cast away inner-party democracy, by employing a combination of
hectoring, followed by indecent cajoling, wrapped neatly into what appears only
on the surface as successful internal democracy. Any party that is tempted to go
along such an unhealthy path and process may only succeed in exposing gaping
sycophants, appeasers and apologists of democracy. Importantly however, it may
fail to appeal to the most important stakeholder group that defines political
fortunes or election victories and individual destiny – the general electorate.

In order for multi-party democracy to thrive, it is imperative that the ingredients

of inner-party democracy be clearly appreciated and accepted. Until and unless
individual parties allow themselves to be guided by social laws that govern their
internal arrangements, they will continue to fester internal apathy and inertia.
Cosmetic solutions that are consequently applied, to tone down avoidable and
self-generated nuisance and nuances in the process of critical decision-making
usually fails because loyalties are overstretched. More often than not, it results in
internal stakeholder-groups 'tossing grudging morsels of support'. The strength
and synergy otherwise derived from unity and teamwork is therefore lost.

The concept of stakeholder influence and interest is apparent but it often appears
much more complex and difficult to define within the context of political parties.
Among the questions it throws up include - On whom do we place premium when
making choices and taking decisions? – Is it the desire of the general electorate or
the party's electoral college? Should it be significant individuals or the national
executive committee? Is it the group of financiers or candidates vying for the
party's leadership? Should it be party members or the council of elders? This list
could be endless. Unless we have a clear idea of our overriding purpose as a
collective, and are able to determine what our priorities should be, and can
therefore focus on the 'ball', your guess could be as good as mine.

While it is true that consensus building in the light of the above could be
challenging, a conscious and sincere consultation could generate a broad
understanding with relative internal harmony. On the contrary, when the interests
and fears of other significant internal and external stakeholders are not
sufficiently and sincerely massaged and consequently do not mesh into what
eventually crystallises as party choices and decisions, tension and conflicts
become eminent. The conflicting interests and contradictions that arise are fought
fiercely and aggressively but usually in a rather covert manner.

It is a hidden truth and a stubborn fact, bizarre as it may be, that stakeholders may
not necessarily share the same goals and objectives relating to the outcome of a
general election at a given time. One must understand that goal congruence;
political commitment; sacrifice; and co-operation are a function of the degree of
guaranteed mutuality of perceived benefit.

What could be healthy but often-misunderstood are the competing views about
the appropriate strategies for achieving party objectives effectively and
efficiently. Unlike formal bureaucracies, political parties are pluralistic rather than
unitary systems and may, therefore, have difficulties yielding to a 'single
corporate mind' that takes decisions for the party. Every active member of a party
may be considered as a mature partner and as is the case in a partnership, a broad
consensus among partners must inform decision-making. This is even more
crucial when 'the chips are down' or the party is in 'opposition'. The leader of a
party in government may have the luxury and protection of the law to indulge in
what may be described as a 'one-man show', but not for long.

Generally, unless decision-making takes account of the interests and fears of

dominant stakeholders, within and outside the party, major cracks are likely to
occur, which does not make any party attractive and elect able. These cracks give
louder expression to the concept of power struggle and power play, which lie at
the heart of inner-party struggles. Individual groups, and coalitions compete to
secure the basis or means of power within the party in order to factor their
perceived neglected views, interests and fears into the party's general strategy.
The extent to which the dominant groups within the party appear sidelined,
informs the ferocity of the struggle for the means and levers of power. This could
take several forms or schemes with a potential lethal effect on the fortunes of a
political party.

Interestingly, coalitions and alliances tend to be formed between and among

different interest groups or stakeholders, which last for as long as a common
interest is perceived. New interests or threats may inform completely different
coalitions, however incompatible they might have appeared in the past. This
generates perpetually, a 'shifting coalition of interest', which may be a normal
feature in the context of political parties.

To reduce the inherent contradictions and generate a relative convergence of

stakeholder interests, compromises and consensus building must, as much as
possible, be at the core of political decision-making - if we desire internal
cohesion and harmony.

In our inability to strike meaningful compromises or failure to succeed in our

parochial fights to achieve the choices and decisions that we desire, it is in the
supreme interest of our parties that we support the emerging choices and decisions
– irrespective of the circumstances of their 'birth'.

It is instructive to appreciate the legitimacy of individual ambition that informs

group interests.

It is crucial to allow the interaction of contending ideas and views, as that helps to
shape concepts that inform party campaign strategies.

It is essential that notwithstanding the differences in interests, that inform our

choices, internal party leadership must be allowed to emerge on the strength and
will of the general party membership. Importantly, this must necessarily mesh
with the general expectation and desires of the broad electorate, who hold the key
to the political fortunes of parties.
It is particularly instructive to appreciate that when the emergence of a leader is
perceived, rightly or wrongly, as reflecting a nonnegotiable interest of any
dominant group or individuals, that leader's legitimacy may be compromised.

It is rewarding to realise the benefit of teamwork because Together Everyone

Achieves More (TEAM)
Popular political websites such as that of BJP’s LK Advani are registering up to 25,000 hits every day

Bangalore: Next to the Gavi Gangadhara Temple in a traditional south Bangalore neighbourhood, hundreds
of Congress party workers waved flags and loudspeakers attached to an auto-rickshaw blared
announcements.

The Congress candidate for the Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat, Krishna Byre Gowda, was on his way
there. And soon enough, Gowda, a two-time Karnataka state lawmaker, arrived on the scene, straining
under the weight of garlands.

Almost at the same time, real-time social messaging website Twitter registered an update that read:
“Krishna is on his way over to the Gavi Gangadhara temple.”

“Methods of campaigning are constantly involving and cannot be static,” says Gowda, 36, who has a
masters degree in international affairs from American University, Washington, DC. “I have two kinds of voter
categories to cater to—those with access to the Internet and those without. The strategy just has to be two-
pronged.”

Gowda’s team of 15 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 25 years update his Facebook, Orkut and
Twitter profiles every couple of hours.

But while the Congress party’s presence on the Internet and mobile airwaves seems restricted to Net-savvy
politicians such as Gowda and south Mumbai contestant Milind Deora, the rival Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) has gone all out in a countrywide mobile and Internet campaign to promote its prime ministerial
candidate L.K. Advani, other contestants and the party’s ideology.

The party sends four text messages to mobile users across the country every day and has stepped up the
onslaught in tech-savvy states. In Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa, mobile users receive auto-dialler calls
that play recorded voice messages from candidates when a call is answered.

Bluetooth pushers

If you walk into a shopping mall in Mumbai or Bangalore with your Bluetooth reception turned on, don’t be
surprised if you receive a request to download a message from the BJP. The party has now strategically
placed Bluetooth pushers in high footfall areas such as malls, so people can download messages, pictures
and caller tunes from the BJP on their mobile phones.

“We are positioned in 15 areas like malls and areas like Nariman Point in Mumbai, and send out up to 15
lakh messages in a day,” says Vinit Goenka, convenor of the BJP’s information technology (IT) cell in
Maharashtra.

Mobile solutions provider TELiBrahma Convergent Communications Pvt. Ltd says it has started pushing
Bluetooth downloads, or bluecasting, for the BJP in Delhi and Mumbai as a pilot project.

The company is talking to numerous parties such as the Congress, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Akali
Dal, and independents such as G.R. Gopinath, Bangalore-based founder of erstwhile low-cost airline Air
Deccan, to bluecast local language party manifestos, profiles and messages of candidates.

“We plan to air the messages across 100 urban, semi-urban and rural locations in the country and expect at
least 1 million people to download (them),” says Suresh Narasimha, chief executive of TELiBrahma, which
runs about 10 Bluetooth-based mobile advertising campaigns for several brands every month in popular
malls and shopping areas.

“It is not that political parties are using technology for the sake of using it,” says Narasimha, who was
surprised with the knowledge that political parties and candidates have on the use and applicability of
technology. “We never knew that we will get into so many arguments or we will have to answer so many
questions about applicability of the media.”

Narasimha thinks that with a few more elections, Indian poll campaigning, which already uses short-
messaging service, interactive voice response, emails, blogs and social networking sites, will be on par —
technology-wise—with those in the West.

Bloggers’ meet

The BJP recently organized a bloggers’ meet in Mumbai where bloggers interacted with party leaders. In
Goa, the party’s IT cell has gone the extra mile by making a mention of a short code in all its advertisements
calling supporters of the party to register by texting “JOIN” to 56010.

The independent candidate from south Mumbai, Meera Sanyal, has also positioned a short code across her
online campaigns to get an idea of the extent of her support. Those who register with Sanyal on 560700 get
regular updates on her events for the day and where voters can meet her in person.

BuzzGain, a company that has been tracking traffic and monitoring Web pages, points out that the active
campaigning is creating an increased amount of traffic to political websites, with the more popular ones such
as Advani’s website registering up to 25,000 hits every day.

“In fact, a state like Gujarat, which accounts for just around the 2% of the 52 million Internet users in India in
usual times, has shot up to 6% in the past month, with users registering several election-related searches on
Google” says Mukund Mohan, CEO of BuzzGain.

But he quickly adds that although several users are logging on to Advani’s website, he is still not the most
talked about candidate on blogs and Twitter feeds.

“Rahul Gandhi and P. Chidambaram (both Congress politicians) feature amongst the most mentioned
names in various blogs,” says Mohan. And that is a point that should be noted, he believes, because India at
the moment has 1.2 million bloggers, of which close to 70% have made a mention or have been talking
about the general election and associated candidates.

“India still has a long way to go as far as online campaigning is concerned,” says Mohan, who also designs
the online publicity campaigns for several IT companies and is open to doing so as well for political parties
just like ElectionMall Inc. did for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. “We have had a few parties approaching
us to handle their online presence, but they want us to do it free of cost,” he adds.

With 43 million first-time voters in this general election, campaign coordinator for non-profit Jaago Re One
Billion Votes, Jasmine Shah says, “Just 30% of the urban youth have registered to vote and this kind of
active online information will make that number grow.”
Chandigarh: The major contenders for Chandigarh parliamentary constituency - Congress and Bharatiya
Janata Party -have been using the latest technology in their campaigns. On Monday, president of
Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee BB Bahl launched a website promoting the candidacy of Pawan
Kumar Bansal, the present MP from the city and Union minister of state for finance. The address of the
website is www.pawanbansalforchandigarh.com. It offers information regarding developmental works
conducted by Bansal and the party’s agenda for the polls among other things.

The site includes data about projects being carried out in Chandigarh and the work done in various pockets
of the city. Bansal said the website will show where the money was being spent for the development of the
city, including the funds from the MP Local Area Development Scheme.

”It is probably the first site in the country, which will make the candidate’s profile transparent,” said Bahl.

Bansal said, “The day is not far, when Chandigarh will boast of a bullet train passing through the city, which
is part of various plans being mooted for the overall growth and development of the country. The Congress
party, under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, has always emphasized the need for the
country to move forward.”

Bansal said there was a plan to ensure that the railway station here provided integrated transport solutions
like those abroad.

The railway station will offer both the surface and air transport facilities, he said.

Bansal asserted that he was a representative of the people and his first priority would be to fulfil all his
commitments. He said he would make an effort to get cooking gas lines laid in the city to make supply of the
essential commodity hassle-free.

He said development plan outlay for the city had increased from Rs 198 crore in 2003-04 to the present Rs
488 crore.
 •

Guwahati: It will be "Jai Ho" all over for Tarun Gogoi in Assam, as the Congress there prepares to translate
the Slumdog song into four local languages to sing peans in praise of the government’s work.

"The work of modification of the lyric has been handed over to a professional group. It will highlight the
achievements of the Tarun Gogoi government in the state during the last eight years" Pankaj Bora, vice
president of the Assam pradesh congress committee (APCC) told ET.

The modified Slumdog lyric will be available in Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and Sadri.

Mr Bora said that the party is planning to launch this publicity blitzkreig with 10,000 CDs. The song will of
five minutes duration and the cassettes are being produced by APCC. "We have the copyright and
accordingly it can be modified in different states to suit respective poll campaigns" Mr Bora said.

Similarly the BJP is also planning to counter the Congress in the state with its coordinator for the northeast,
Harendra Pratap saying : "We will launch our campaign song in local languages also to air the failure of the
UPA government".

With the poll dates in Assam coinciding with Bihu in spring, several music albums are expected to come up
with political tunes. The local music industry expects over 200 Bihu song albums to be released soon,
leading up to a total business of around Rs 3 crore.

According to Manas Robin, a noted singer cum composer, Bihu music albums with a political slant may sell
well if they are professionally done. "People like to listen to different tunes" he said.

•
Election campaigns in India.
Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate.

The latest election in Uttar Pradesh in India have shown that we can go down to such an
extent from where we can come back with false excuses only. We have got no targets with
us nor we have got something to place before the voters on the basis of which we are
wanting votes from them. Therefore, we have got only one method with us and that
method has been repeatedly utilized in India. The leaders in the election campaigns of ten
start speaking against the other party which they think shall win. In the present election
campaign in the state of Uttar Pradesh, both Congress and the BJP parties started leveling
allegations against each other and they are not coming forward to tell the people that if
they are given power, they shall do this and that for the people of the state.
The people of India must admit that they are not getting their own people as leaders in
the political parties established here. Some people with money and some people from
some families join together and they are forming political parties like establishing
cooperative societies in India. They distribute the offices amongst themselves and then
they stand in elections with the help of rich people in the country. The rich people give
them money and with this money they win in elections and then they work for the benefit
of those rich people who had helped them in the elections. That is the reason, the rich
people had been growing more and more rich and the poor people are being reduced to
more and more poverty. It must be accepted that the rich people do not cast their votes
because they do not like to stand in lines where people from the lower economic groups
are standing. Therefore, we have established here in India a strange type of democracy
where the voters are poor people and the governments established with their votes are
virtually representatives of rich people and that is the reason, the people of India are not
counting themselves as democrats. They are still living like slaves in India because they
earn and create wealth in the country and all the wealth is snatched away by the rich and
the powerful and the people of India are still illiterate, unemployed, poor, houseless, living
in mud houses and in huts, are ill, weak, are starving, are wearing on rags, are beggars
and the like and it seems they shall die without tasting the fruit of independence and of
democracy. They are just voters and with this power in their hand, they could write of
family rule from India, individual dictatorship and then party dictatorship.
Time has come when the political parties in India should draw their economic agendas as
per internationally recognized principles and they must work on scientific methods and
should not mislead the people just of false and artificial slogans. Winning in election is one
thing and doing something for the people is the real thing and we could not achieve this
real thing because here in India there is no qualifications for the people who are coming to
the houses. They are not bound to have such qualifications even if they are expiring for
the post of a minister. Here in India an illiterate person can become minister of finance,
home, education or the like and here in India an illiterate person can have command over
highly qualified people. We do not understand as to how these higher educated and higher
qualified people are obeying the orders of those who have got no qualification with them.
We can say that the people who are working in this democracy are virtually from the side
of the bureaucracy and they pass orders which are signed by the elected people. That is
the reason, we are still carrying on some laws which had been framed by imperialists
when they were ruling over us and our people could not have the courage to change those
laws.
We are still playing with the principles of democracy and we are not electing right people
to the right job. That is the reason, the political parties and the people in the political
parties are still working with false and empty slogans and they are running the
administration just in a routine method. We are still to identify our natural resources
hidden here and we are still to exploit those hidden natural resources. Till we forward
qualified people to the houses, all these dreams shall not be realized or achieved.
------------------------------
[edit] Campaigning
See also: 2009 Indian general election campaign controversies

[edit] United Progressive Alliance

The Congress party bought the rights for the Oscar winning soundtrack Jai Ho from the
movie Slumdog Millionaire, which was used as the official campaign tune by the party.
The song title Jai Ho translates to Let there be victory, and the Congress hoped that the
popular song would galvanise the masses during the almost one month long election
season.[31]

On March 24, 2009, Congress President Sonia Gandhi released the party's manifesto for
the 2009 election.[32] The party's slogan for the election was Aam Admi Ke Badthe
Kadam, Har Kadam Par Bharat Buland which roughly translates to The common man
moves forward, And with his every step India prospers. The manifesto highlighted all the
achievements of the UPA Government over the last five years in power and identified
improving various policies to favour more rural & under-privileged sections of the Indian
society.[33]

The Congress campaign ran into trouble when the Election Commission took exception
to a full page advertisement on the 2010 Commonwealth Games taken out in major Delhi
newspapers. The EC served notice to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the
Cabinet Secretary and the Chief Secretary of Delhi, stating that the advertisement was a
clear violation of the model code of conduct since it enumerated the achievements of the
UPA Government. The EC has also asked the violators to pay from their own pockets.[34]
[35]

[edit] National Democratic Alliance

To counter the Congress' selection of Jai Ho as their official anthem, the BJP coined the
phrase Kushal Neta, Nirnayak Sarkaar which translates to Able leader, decisive
government. The BJP hope to benefit from the fact that they have been consistently
projecting one single leader, Advani, as the party's Prime Ministerial candidate for more
than one year, while the Congress appears to have dual power centres (party President
Sonia Gandhi and incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh). The BJP intends to use
Advani's name & image as the main focus in these elections.[36]

On April 3, 2009, BJP released its election manifesto in New Delhi.[37] The party is taking
on the incumbent UPA Government on the 3 fronts of Good Governance, Development
and Security. The manifesto highlights all the different NDA policies that the UPA
reversed over the last five years. The manifesto lays a lot of importance on requiring
strong, POTA-like anti-terrorism laws and vows to make India a safer place if the BJP is
elected. The full text of the manifesto is available at the BJP website.[38]
The BJP campaign faced its biggest controversy when the EC directed the District
Magistrate of Pilibhit to lodge a criminal case against the BJP's candidate Varun Gandhi
for his inflammatory speech against non-Hindus made on March 7, 2009.[39] This decision
was taken after the EC had earlier issued a notice[40] to Varun Gandhi and the BJP. After
reviewing the incident, the EC found Varun Gandhi guilty of violating the model code of
conduct by creating feeling of enmity and hatred between different communities and
issued a recommendation the BJP to drop him from their list of candidates.[41] The BJP
however came out in support of Varun and refused to drop him as a candidate.[42]

[edit] Third Front

The CPI(M), along with the parties associated with the Left Front, formed a Third Front.
The Third Front tried to contest the election, hoping to create a non-BJP, non-Congress
government, by attracting many local and regional parties, that were once with the other
two alliances. The Third Front came into the alliance with 83 MPs, and various polling
conducted before the election projected the alliance of getting 100+ seats. The CPI(M)
created a campaign website hosting its campaign information to attract sympathisers
among the netizen public to vote for the party.[43][44].
2009 Indian general election campaign
controversies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The 2009 Indian general election was held in five phases between April 16 and May 13,
2009. During the course of the campaign, several controversies arose, with parties being
accused by one another and the Election Commission of India of violating the model
code of conduct that was in force during the election.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Indian National Congress

• 2 Janata Dal (United)
• 3 Bharatiya Janata Party
• 4 Rashtriya Janata Dal
• 5 Samajwadi Party

• 6 References

[edit] Indian National Congress

• The Election Commission took exception to a full page advertisement on the 2010
Commonwealth Games taken out in major Delhi newspapers. The advertisement
listed the infrastructural facilities that have come up in preparation for the 2010
event – including 24 flyovers, 75 aerobridge airport, 1,285 km of better roads,
5,000 low-floor buses, 80 new metro destinations, 11 world-class sports venues
and thousands of job opportunities. The EC served notice to the Ministry of Youth
Affairs and Sports, the Cabinet Secretary and the Chief Secretary of Delhi, stating
that the advertisement is a clear violation of the model code of conduct since it
enumerates the achievements of the UPA Government. The EC has also asked the
violators to pay from their own pockets.[1][2]
• Congress MP and Bollywood actor Govinda is being investigated by the Mumbai
Suburban District Collector for giving money to supporters outside his Mumbai
house on March 12, 2009.[3]
• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy is being investigated for
addressing an election meeting within a Government school's premises during a
Class 10 public examination in the school. His son-in-law Anil Kumar, an
evangelist, has a case filed against him for distributing religious pamphlets
 promoting Government programs in a church. Three others were arrested in the
case and Anil Kumar is expected to be arrested as well.[4][5]
• Two Congress Lok Sabha candidates from Pilibhit and Shrawasti constituencies
from Uttar Pradesh booked for violating the model code of conduct, the Congress
nominee from Pilibhit B.M. Singh was registered for using as many as 98 four-
wheelers in his procession, against the three authorized by the district authorities,
whereas the party’s nominee from Shrawasti, V.K. Pandey, was booked for
conducting a road show Tuesday without taking permission from the district
authorities [6]

[edit] Janata Dal (United)

• JD(U) leader Jeetan Ram Manjhi was booked by EC on March 9, 2009, for
violating the model code of conduct which took effect from the day the election
was announced by the EC. Manjhi attended an election meeting in Nalanda
district using the official car made available to him for his position as the Social
Welfare Minister in the Government of Bihar.[7]

[edit] Bharatiya Janata Party

• An FIR was filed against BJP MP & spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy for holding
a press conference at circuit house in Chapra on March 4, 2009 in violation of the
model of conduct.[8]
• The EC directed the District Magistrate of Pilibhit to lodge a criminal case against
the BJP's candidate Varun Gandhi for his inflammatory speech against non-
Hindus made on March 7, 2009.[9] This decision was taken after the EC had earlier
issued a notice[10] to Varun Gandhi and the BJP. After reviewing the incident, the
EC found Varun Gandhi guilty of violating the model code of conduct by creating
feeling of enmity and hatred between different communities. However, since
Varun has not been convicted by a court of law, the EC can not bar him from
contesting the election. Instead, they have recommended to his party, the BJP, to
drop him from their list of candidates.[11] The BJP have since come out in support
of Varun and have refused to drop Varun as a candidate, saying that the EC has
no right to provide such a recommendation.[12] Subsequently, Varun Gandhi was
arrested and booked under India's strict National Security Act on charges of
inciting communal tensions. This charge could see him kept under detention for
up to one year.[13]
• Senior BJP leader and former Finance Minister of India Jaswant Singh was caught
on tape on March 31, 2009 distributing money during an election meeting in
Gajaria village in Barmer. Singh's son Manvendra Singh is contesting the election
on a BJP ticket from Barmer Lok Sabha constituency. The District Collector of
Barmer collected and presented the facts of the incident to the EC. Jaswant Singh
has denied the charges of violating the model code of conduct, instead saying that
it was the party tradition to help the poor and needy.[14][15]
 • Former BJP Lok Sabha MP Ananth Kumar Hegde became the second BJP leader
of this election to be reported for making a hate speech against a particular
community. During an election rally at Karwar. Kumar allegedly threatened to
prevent Muslims from celebrating religious festivals after cautioning the people
against activities of Islamist terror groups. Karnataka's Chief Electoral Officer has
sent a report on this incident along with a CD of Kumar's speech to the CEC.[16]

[edit] Rashtriya Janata Dal

• RJD's Lok Sabha MP, Pappu, and his wife have been charged with violating the
model code of conduct for attending public receptions under Sadar, Khat and
Kasba police stations without seeking prior permission from competent
authorities.[8]
• An FIR was filed against RJD MP Ramkripal Yadav, former RJD MLA
Dharmendra Kumar and Masaurhi block RJD president Chandrashekhar Prasad
Singh for holding a public meeting at Kharoch without permission.[17]

[edit] Samajwadi Party

• SP's chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was issued a notice on March 12, 2009, by the
EC for allegedly bribing voters during an election rally on March 11 in his native
village of Safai in Etawah Lok Sabha constituency. The party workers were seen
distributing Rs. 100 notes to all those who attended the rally. The party claims
that the money was being given away as a gift to the people of the village and that
the gathering was to celebrate the festival of Holi and was not a political rally.[18]
[19]
On March 31, 2009, the EC decided not to proceed on this case and no action
will be taken against either Mulayam Singh Yadav or the party.[20]
• The EC on March 30, 2009 also served notice to Mulayam Singh Yadav for his
alleged threats against Ministhy Dileep, the District Magistrate of Mainpuri.
Mulayam is expected to contest the election from Mainpuri Lok Sabha
constituency.[21]
• Jayaprada, the Samajwadi Party candidate in Rampur was issued a notice by the
Election Commission on April 26, 2009, for violating the code of conduct by
distributing bindis to women in Rampur's Swar locality.[22]
 How to woo Indian Muslims to vote for you

By Yousuf Saeed

ay, 2009
ok Sabha elections of 2009 to select India's central government are finally over, and the results are out. Some
sts have pointed out that the Muslims of north India were one of the important deciding factors for the success or
t of the different parties (see the links at the bottom). If one observed the Urdu newspapers in north India, one could
see how different parties and candidates tried to attract the attention of Muslim voters by engaging them on a
er of issues from development and employment to terrorism and communalism.

Fig.01
Congress and its allies have emerged once again to form the government, one can see how they and the other parties didn't leave any stone
ned to present a favourable image of themselves, while painting their opponents as the worst enemies of the Muslims. Interestingly, many of th
tisements have bylines not of the main parties they represent. Rather, these have been issued by hitherto unknown organizations and NGOs of
ms, and in some cases, religious clergy or even the keepers of local Sufi shrines, who have a great following among the Muslims. While this is n
rst time that Muslim religious leaders have participated in the campaign for political parties, but they have certainly come out more openly this
using the iconography of their religious authority.

resent a few examples of such campaign advertisements from some newspapers published in Delhi in the last few weeks.

Fig.02 Fig.03

Fig.04
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will launch her campaign for the three-phase
Lok Sabha elections beginning April 30 by addressing a huge gathering at Nandigram on
Saturday.
Ms. Banerjee appealed to the minorities to take a united stand against the CPI(M), saying
it had failed on all fronts. “The CPI(M) will be upstaged.”
Her inaugural campaign rally had the support of Congress leaders who shared the dais
with her.

At the Hazrakata grounds in Nandigram, the TMC and the Congress volunteers mingled
together, marked only by their distinctive badges. At the dais, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, a
senior Congress leader said to be an emissary of Pranab Mukherjee, stood close to
Banerjee, sending out a clear message that their joint fight against the ruling CPM had the
blessings of the Congress high command.
In the recent US General elections, social networking websites and other internet based
services has played an important role in the success of Barack Obama. Barack Obama has
utilized internet to the maximum to generate more support for him in the general
elections. Barack Obama has launched his own website and created profiles in all social
networking websites for his presidential campaign and it has proved to a great success.

This success of Barack Obama has persuaded Indian general election candidates. BJP and
Congress has gone the gone the online way in the previous general elections. But that
time social networking and internet marketing was not much popular as of today. Major
political parties has realized that they can get more supporters especially from young
Indian if they are campaigning online.

The priministerial candidate of BJP, LK Advani has started his website and a blog to
share his views online. I have visited the website several times. One can find information
in hindi as well as English. The website is updated regularly and Leader LK Advani is
actively sharing his thoughts on each and every issues and matters related to India
through his website and blog.

LK Advani has not only created his website and blog but also marketing his webiste and
blog heavily on the internet through search engine marketing. In the past several week i
have seen different advertisements regarding this website online. BJP is actively
promoting the website using Google Adwords. When ever you visit an india related
website you will definitely find the advertisement of this website.

The website of L K Advani is using Joomla(Joomla is an open source content

management system). It is great to know that Indian political parties are using open
source technologies, internet marketing tools for promoting their election campaign.

Besides actively promoting the campaign in the internet BJP has published it IT vision
document recently. In this vision document the party has made big promises for IT
community of India. As per the document if BJP is coming back to power, BJP will
actively promote open source software and internet telephony in all the government
departments. Moreover, the party has promised one crore laptops to students, for this it
would spend Rs 10,000 cr on buying top-of-the-line laptops with open source software.
The party’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani, while unveiling the party’s IT vision
document ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, said if the BJP-led National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) is voted to power then it would use Information Technology as an
important tool to bring about drastic change in major fields like education and public
health care.

Here are some of the important aspects of BJP’s IT vision document –

Broadband Internet (2 Mbps) in every town and village, at cable TV prices (at prices less
than Rs 200/month). 10 million students to get laptop computers at Rs 10,000. Interest-
free loan for anyone who is unable to afford it. All schools and colleges to have Internet-
enabled education and labs. Every BPL family to be given a free smart mobile phone,
which can be used by even illiterate users for accessing their bank accounts. Video
conferencing to be made affordable and universally accessible. Primary Health Centre in
every village to be linked to the National Telemedicine Service Network. Basic health
insurance scheme for every citizen, using the IT platform. Cashless hospitalization. All
post offices to be converted into IT-enabled Multi-Service Outlets. All telephone booths
to be upgraded to Internet kiosks. Citizens will have a simple 1-800 BSNL Toll Free
Number, which will be accessible 24×7x 365 days of the year, to contact their Member of
Parliament. e-Bhasha: National Mission for Promotion of IT in Indian Languages. An
independent body, Digital Security Agency (DSA), to be set up for cyber warfare, cyber
counter-terrorism, and cyber security of national digital assets.

As BJP showing the path for online election campaign. In no time more and more
political parties will start their online campaign for this years India general elections.
Congress is dumping its 'Jai Ho' election campaign worried by its similarity with the National Democratic
Alliance's (NDA) 2004 India Shining campaign which failed to click with the voters.

The decision comes soon after Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's statements reiterating the
party's commitment to the aam aadmi (common man).

But senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily defended Congress changing its campaign as a dynamic
process.

"The content of the campaign is aam aadmi. Even the Jai Ho campaign starts with the aam aadmi. We did
not want the campaign to static; we wanted it to be dynamic. So we decided to run the Jai Ho ad for 10
days. It was decided even before the campaign was launched," said Moily.

In case you didn't already know, 'Jai Ho' is a song from the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire and
Congress had been using it for its election campaign.

Music composer AR Rahman and lyricist Gulzar won the Oscar for the song.

Seeking to counter the 'Jai Ho' ad campaign of the Congress, BJP had earlier unveiled a parody of the
Slumdog Millionaire song saying 'Bhay Ho' (let fear prevail).
 Election Campaign
Posters, banners, loudspeakers – we’ve seen them all during election campaigns. This
time a brand new medium has entered the arena. The SMS (short messaging service)
has bitten campaigners in last election.

“You cannot meet everyone in a family during door to door campaigns. Many of them are
at work. I note down the numbers of those who carry mobiles and send them SMS, seeking
their votes,”

“I also use it to co-ordinate with my workers during election meetings.”

"Party workers carrying mobiles are a common sight in campaign offices. A candidate has
distributed more than a dozen mobiles to his campaign workers"

“I received a number of SMS from candidates seeking votes, even from a rival party
candidate,”

“Sending SMS has become cheaper with some operators some providing the service free.”

"In most cases, it’s the technosavy young candidates who are exploring this facility. The
older generation seems to shy way from it"

“SMS based campaigns are comparatively cheaper than traditional media, no clutter and
highly responsive.”

"Political parties have hit a hi-tech campaign in the December 1st assembly election in
Delhi seeking votes through SMS and e-mail"

"The mobile phone has come handy for candidates to reach executives, managers,
bureaucrats, homemakers and senior citizens at a personal level"

"Seeking vote through an SMS is like paying a visit as today the cell phone has almost
become a part of one's body"

"Some innovative ideas on how out to campaign by SMS: A party symbol 'Lotus' or 'Hand'
as a screen saver in a mobile phone in a last-minute effort to get the voter's attention"

"SMS could be the politician's new poll brahmastra : Short Messaging Service is all set to
make its debut as a propaganda vehicle in the coming elections in India. Cellular service
providers are willing to offer the service to election candidates to reach out to lakhs of
voters simultaneously"
INDIA'S NEW AGE ELECTION CAMPAIGN
 As campaigning picks up in India's state elections, candidates are looking at new ways to
reach the voter. Elections in India are a colourful affair, with the liberal use of posters,
banners and music. Many candidates travel on specially built coaches, transformed to
resemble medieval chariots. But in these elections, political parties and candidates are
increasingly using new technology and media to make their pitch. The growing number of
mobile phone users and increasing use of the internet have provided the parties a new
campaign platform. Some political parties are busy sending catchy text messages to voters
through mobile phones. Many candidates have also launched their own websites to attract
urban voters. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has taken the lead, setting up a team to
generate campaign slogans to be transmitted via mobile phones and e-mail. A leader of the
rival Congress party said by using Short Messaging Service (SMS) and e-mail, the
candidates can directly target urban voters who may otherwise be apathetic. Mobile phone
numbers and e-mail addresses of voters are being compiled by the parties through local
resident welfare associations and clubs."
Election-Related Information
"You can provide election-related information through SMS. Through this service the
public can access electoral roll data on their mobile through SMS"
Elections Results on Your Mobile Phone
Your customers can know the latest developments during this General Election. You can
set Service in which customers who send a blank SMS to your mobile, will receive up to
six SMS updates on the electoral results. Customers may also send an SMS with a district
number to receive specific information about the selected district. The updates of the
District Coverage SMS will include information about all districts. Your customers may
choose to subscribe for SMS updates for one or more district.
At stake in India's elections
May 11, 2009

India will complete its month-long elections for the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the
Indian parliament) this week, with the votes due to be counted on May 16.

The elections will likely cause a shift in the political balance of forces, with the two
leading parties, the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National
Congress, reorganizing their coalitions and dealing with a changing political landscape.

The main issues dominating these elections are the economy, the growth of communal
violence, the ongoing Indian "war on terror," and the corruption of official politics. In the
main, though, these issues will find their expression in strange ways because the official
left in Indian politics--the various Communist Parties organized under the Left Front
coalition--has abandoned its commitment to politics from below and is widely discredited.

Snehal Shingavi and Rohit Negi provide an analysis of the political dynamics at play in
India's elections.

Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, who oversaw violent

communalist attacks there (Norbert Schiller)

The main players

-- The Indian National Congress (known simply as Congress) originated as part of the anti-
colonial movement against British rule. Founded in 1885, it became a major political party after
independence and governed India for the first 40 years.

Currently, the Congress Party heads up the governing coalition, the United Progressive Alliance.
Despite its long heritage linked to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that played an important role in
India following independence, the Congress Party became synonymous with state corruption in
the 1980s.

Since the early 1990s, Congress has presided over the "liberalization" of the Indian economy,
which has meant widespread privatization and the shrinking of social services, while throwing
open the country to various factions of multinational capital.

Congress has also declined as a national player, and is today marginal in the heartland of the
country, where it was once dominant. It therefore has to enter into coalitions with other parties,
and not always on terms it sets.

-- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the political expression of a constellation of forces
widely known as "Hindu nationalist." At its core, this ideology imagines India as a Hindu nation,
and seeks to either eliminate Muslims altogether or make them second-class citizens.

The BJP exploded onto the scene in 1989 with a nationwide campaign for the construction of a
Ram Temple at the site of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP).
This campaign reached its height in 1992 when the Babri mosque was demolished by so-called
'volunteers' owing their allegiance to the BJP and its ideological partners.

Since then, there has been a steady polarization along religious lines in Indian politics, with the
BJP banking predominantly on Hindu support, while other parties enter into alliances favoring a
"secular" (or multi-religious, in the Indian context) alternative.

The BJP, though, has been frustrated by its inability to bridge the North-South divide in Indian
politics, and despite its rise, it has never managed to win more than a third of the total vote in
national elections.

-- The Third Front is an ad-hoc coalition of relatively smaller, so-called "regional" parties. The
geographical bases of the regional parties reflect the sub-division of the Indian state. The Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam, for example, draws on Tamil nationalism in the state of Tamil Nadu. The
Telugu Desam Party is an exclusively Telugu party with a base in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Joining these regional parties in the Third Front are others based on caste interests. The Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP), for example, is essentially a Dalit party (the colloquial term for the low-caste
"untouchables"), though it has benefited in the recent past from strategic alliances with sections
of the Muslim population in UP, which is India's largest province.

The BSP leader Mayawati has stated her desire to become the first Dalit prime minister of India,
and if neither the Congress nor the BJP can muster a majority, there is a chance her dream might
be realized--because the left and the Congress could be compelled to support a Third Front-led
government with a common interest in keeping the BJP out of power.

-- The Left Front is comprised of a variety of parties that define themselves as Marxist, but they
should be viewed as varieties of Stalinism--nominally socialist parties committed to socialism-
from-above, which often means abandoning the interests of workers in favor of "pragmatism."
Though its numbers are significant--the Left Front regularly wins one-tenth of the total
parliamentary seats--it is also, more or less, a regional grouping, with strong support in the states
of West Bengal and Kerala, and some influence in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, but not elsewhere.

West Bengal is the largest of these states, and the Left Front has been in power for three decades,
under the leadership of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM). While some of its policies,
like large-scale land reforms in the 1970s, have been progressive, the CPM has undertaken a
neoliberal turn recently, and found itself being challenged by the victims of dispossession.
Because of these eruptions among its base, the Left Front is widely expected to lose seats in this
year's elections.

In general, the Left Front aligns itself with the Third Front, with the aim of keeping the BJP out of
government. During the past four-and-a-half years since elections in 2004, it supported the
Congress-led government.

----------------

The main issues

The Indian economy is suffering as a result of the global economic downturn. While the ruling
Congress Party has been on a campaign to promote the idea that recovery is around the corner,
ordinary Indians have been feeling the effects of the recession in devastating ways.

For rural India, the crisis dates back to the liberalization of the economy through the 1990s. Since
1997, more than 200,000 farmers have committed suicide because of the high rates of
indebtedness, rampant crop failures and rapidly falling prices. In Chhattisgarh alone, more than
1,500 farmers committed suicide in the month of March, when irrigation failures led to a
disastrous harvest.

Overall, according to the United Nations' Human Development Report, 80 percent of India lives
on less than $2 a day.

In the midst of economic despair, the leading parties have turned to scapegoating.

For the right-wing BJP, the favorite scapegoats are Muslims and Christians. The BJP and parties
to its right have had alarming success in heaping blame on minority communities for the
country's poverty--while pretending that their own aggressive neoliberal schemes of the 1990s
had nothing to do with the problem.

The outcome of this scapegoating has been horrific. In the state of Gujarat, whole areas of cities
have been ethnically cleansed of their Muslim populations, while the state's Chief Minister,
Narendra Modi, who oversaw the attacks, hasn't faced a single serious judicial challenge. In fact,
Modi is widely popular in Gujarat, and the candidates he supports are likely to win this round of
elections handily.

In Orissa, Hindu mobs have killed Christians and burned their homes to the ground. Thousands
of people are currently living in refugee camps.

The BJP in recent years has attempted to export its brand of communal politics to other parts of
India beyond its base--especially the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka, where it hopes to
build a base in new regions.

One reason this kind of violence goes unchecked is because the Congress and the official left
denounce it, but do little to stop the spread of communalism.
For the centrist Congress Party, the favored scapegoats are often Maoist rebels, called Naxalites in
India.

While the Congress sees the Naxalites as cross-border terrorists funded by China, the movement
is, in the main, fueled by the economic and social deprivation of peasants and indigenous people
(called adivasis) in the eastern part of India. Their armed uprising has been going on for almost
40 years and the Indian armed forces, while inflicting a heavy toll on the rebels, have been unable
to wipe them out.

Long-scale armed uprisings necessarily rely on looting in order to fund their movements, and the
Naxalites themselves oscillate between political and criminal activities. But they are supported by
large sections of the peasantry because of the failures of the Indian state to deliver on significant
economic development projects and to stop seizing pesant lands and forests.

The two main parties have different strategies for dealing with the Naxalites, but both are cruel.
In Congress-controlled Andhra Pradesh, the central government has used the military to crack
down on the Naxalites, killing innocent civilians in the crossfire. In BJP-controlled Chhattisgarh,
the BJP government organizes paramilitary outfits--really, legal lynch mobs--called Salwa Judum
("the fight for peace") to attack anyone associated with the Naxalites.

The results have been bloody in both states. Both Congress and the BJP want to portray
themselves as the party that will more aggressively take on the "Naxalite threat."

The same is true for how the two main parties want to deal with the issue of Pakistan and the so-
called "war on terror."

Since the coordinated shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai last November, the BJP has been
out for blood, and the Congress is desperately trying to shore up its tough-on-terror credentials.
Taking a harder line with Pakistan has been a key project for both parties, as has the signing of a
deal with the U.S. on India's civilian nuclear program, which goes a long way towards normalizing
India's role as a nuclear power.

In many ways, the BJP and the Congress overlap to a significant degree, not only in their
neoliberal economic agenda, but in their desire to join the American-bloc in international politics.

----------------

The political maneuvering

The ruling Congress has suffered setbacks during the election season, which have less to do with
"third-party spoilers," as its supporters claim, than with the contradictory ways it has dealt with
economic and social questions.

Perhaps most egregious blunder was the airing of a triumphalist Congress Party campaign ad, set
to the song "Jai Ho" from the famous movie Slumdog Millionaire, at the same time that the
number of suicides by farmers continues to climb to astronomical levels. The more Congress touts
its alleged credentials in advancing the Indian economy, the more out of touch it seems to be with
the population.

Still, not one to miss a moment to be opportunist, Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress Party,
campaigned in West Bengal with a fiery criticism of the CPM's actions against dispossessed
farmers in Singur. While she's right about West Bengal, Gandhi would have done well to look at
her own party's record with respect to the peasantry and industrialization, not to mention her
own family's history of corruption.
The BJP also expected it would come out ahead in this election cycle, and had made a series of
deals in the hopes of building a ruling coalition. In places like Orissa, the BJP's vicious anti-
Christian campaign has led to increased support in the absence of a strong, combative left
opponent. Nevertheless, at the national level, BJP insiders are worried that they may not do as
well as expected this time around.

Traditionally, the third player in the national government has been the secular left, led by the
CPM. It is part of the Third Front coalition with other left forces, whose reputations hang on their
willingness to challenge the corrupt and chauvinist policies of the two leading parties.

But as the official left succeeded in local elections and came to power in states like Kerala and
West Bengal, it pursued policies that were identical in many ways to the BJP and the Congress.
Most recently, in West Bengal, the CPM attempted to forcibly remove peasants from their land in
order to offer it to an Indonesian multinational.

Both the Congress-led coalition and the BJP-led coalition have begun coming apart at the seams.
Long-time Congress allies like the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal have even
broken away to join the Third Front coalition. This reflects the political realities locally, with
regional players now seeing no advantage to allying themselves with the big two leading parties.

Both the Congress and the BJP have picked unsavory figures to contest a few important seats.

In Punjab, where the Congress was hoping to pick up seats, the selection of Jagdish Tytler
resulted in large protests. Tytler was responsible for leading violent mobs against the Sikh
population in Delhi in 1984, in the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her two
Sikh bodyguards. Tytler's recent acquittal for his role in the events inflamed passions in Punjab,
and the Congress was embarrassed into dumping him.

The BJP has put up a fanatical anti-Muslim candidate, Varun Gandhi, in Uttar Pradesh. The 29-
year-old was arrested in March after allegedly telling supporters at an election rally that he would
"cut the heads of Muslims." Now, released on bail, Gandhi is still running, and he may do well.

But the failure of the Congress and other established parties to do anything but posture
rhetorically against communalism in this instance has led Muslims to break ranks and start their
own parties.

"The Muslim minorities have been repeatedly let down by the leadership of all the secular
parties," Tahir Mahdani, leader of the Ulema Council, told Frontline magazine. "For 44 years
since independence, the upper-caste leadership of the Congress took the minority community for
a ride, while those like the SP and the BSP, with non-upper-caste leaderships, also did the same
after 1991. This serial betrayal has made sincere secularists within the community and outside
come together and look for new alternatives."

----------------

What comes next?

Observers agree that India's elections are proving extremely difficult to predict. Both a Congress-
or a BJP-led government are possible, and depending on the numbers, the Third Front and the
Left could cobble together a coalition.

What is clearer is that none of the parties has an agenda related to the issues that matter to the
majority of the Indian population, which has suffered due to increasing inequalities since the
institution of "economic reform."
Though India earlier this year claimed two of the top 10 spots in Forbes magazine's list of the
world's billionaires, for millions of Indians, poverty is a continuing fact of life, and the increasing
communal hatred threatens them in profound ways. The Left Front itself is complicit in this state
of affairs, and those on the left who seek progressive change see the need for independent
organizing outside the established Communist parties.

Without a coherent left alternative in Indian politics, it's unclear who the beneficiaries of popular
discontent will be. All of the parties are talking populist this election cycle, and all have long
records of disappointing those who vote for them.

Whatever the outcome of the elections, the long-term reality will remain the same for ordinary
Indians until a genuine alternative to poverty and communalism emerges.

India's election
Congress's great dynastic hope
Apr 2nd 2009 | WARDHA
From The Economist print edition

Rahul Gandhi, progeny of prime ministers,

kicks off his campaign for India’s
general election

AFP

TO THE buzz of an approaching helicopter, 30,000 people arise in

Wardha, in the dead centre of India, and start waving at the sun-
bleached sky. Rahul Gandhi—the 38-year-old heir to India’s great
political dynasty; son, grandson and great-grandson of prime
ministers; and leader in waiting of their Congress party—is coming.
On landing, in an ugly yellow dust-storm, Mr Gandhi climbs a small
dais and, after some little-heeded words from Congress’s chief
minister of Maharashtra, opens his campaign for the general election
that is due to begin on April 16th. Speaking in a soft voice, and with
deliberate, north-Indian-accented Hindi, he promises to fight poverty
and for national unity. He makes bold claims for the outgoing
Congress-led coalition government—especially for several welfare
schemes that it has launched, including a massive debt write-off for
small farmers. The crowd is hushed. In a desiccated cotton-growing
region of Maharashtra, where rates of indebtedness and suicide among
farmers are high, this was a popular measure.

Then “Jai Ho!”—the Oscar-winning theme-track to the film “Slumdog

Millionaire”, which Congress has adopted for its campaign—blares
through the speaker. And Mr Gandhi is up and off. Within 20 minutes,
but for a few children combing for plastic water-bottles and other
sellable rubbish, the rally-ground is empty.

This is a hopeful election for Congress, India’s closest approximation to

a party with national appeal. Led by Mr Gandhi’s mother, Sonia
Gandhi, and her chosen prime minister, Manmohan Singh, it has
presided over a coalition government for the first time—and more
skillfully than many expected. Coinciding with a run of
unprecedentedly high economic growth, which provided bumper
revenues for the open-handed schemes that Mr Gandhi boasted of, it
also seems less unpopular than outgoing Indian governments often
are. Because of this, and the weakness of its main opponent, the
Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress seems to
have a decent chance of retaining power, at the helm of another
coalition.

Buoyed by its success, the party that led India for three decades
without a coalition is even dreaming it may one day do so again.
Under Sonia Gandhi, who took over in 1998, seven years after her
husband Rajiv was assassinated, it hopes to have arrested its long
decline. At the last election, in 2004, it won 145 of India’s 543
parliamentary seats; in 1999 it won only 114. Under Rahul Gandhi,
who lacks his mother’s handicap of foreign (Italian) birth, Congress
plans to rebuild its eroded base.

It has therefore spurned possible electoral alliances in the populous

northern states it once dominated, and which it must regain if it is to
win a parliamentary majority. On March 21st Congress announced it
would follow this strategy in Bihar, where it won just three of a
possible 40 seats in 2004. This will mean fighting against two coalition
allies, a party dedicated to low-caste Hindus and another to dalits,
Hinduism’s former “untouchables”, that it will again want support from
after the election. And on March 26th, the Samajwadi Party, which
Congress had been negotiating a pact with in Uttar Pradesh (UP)—a
state where it won 12 of 80 seats in 2004—said negotiations had failed
because of Congress’s excessive demands.

This is a risky strategy, with Congress counting on winning enough

seats to take the lead in forming a coalition, which its currently-piqued
allies will then join. In the longer-term, it hopes that fighting alone in
Bihar and UP will begin the process of rebuilding there, which Rahul
Gandhi will lead. If Congress does retain power in the election, which
will run until May 13th, many would expect him to take over as prime
minister within a year or so from Mr Singh, who is 76 and frail.

Given that Congress stood to gain only a dozen or so extra seats from
electoral tie-ups in UP and Bihar, its gamble looks reasonable. Fighting
the election unencumbered will also give it a wider choice of allies after
the poll, in which several of its erstwhile allies may fare poorly. For
alternative—or additional—partners, Congress may have its eye on one
or two current friends of the BJP. Underpinning its strategy, indeed, is
a calculation that even if the Hindu nationalists win more seats than
Congress in the election, they would be less able to build the
necessary coalition.

Several former BJP allies—including the biggest prop of the former

BJP-led government, Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu Desam Party—consider
their association with the Hinduist party to have cost them crucial
Muslim votes. And the BJP’s prime-ministerial candidate, L.K. Advani,
is more divisive than his predecessor, Atal Behari Vajpayee. To
reassure potential allies—and the many secular Indians who share its
free-market agenda—the BJP is therefore trying to downplay its Hindu-
chauvinist one. But this irks the party’s saffron-hued base.

A controversy stirred by Mr Gandhi’s estranged 29-year-old cousin,

Varun Gandhi, who is standing in UP for the BJP, illustrates its
dilemma. On March 16th a television news channel broadcast a
recording of a speech in which Varun promised India’s 160m Muslims
that he would “cut their throats after the election”. He has since been
arrested and charged with attempted murder and other crimes. To
appease the party’s livid stalwarts, Mr Advani has felt the need to back
Varun’s claim to have been mis-recorded. He has also promised to
campaign on Varun’s behalf. Meanwhile, an important BJP ally, Nitish
Kumar, has said Varun must be prosecuted.

Congress’s more distant hope—for a national revival under Rahul

Gandhi—looks dicey. Its Gandhi cult unites a party that would probably
fracture without it, as happened after Rajiv Gandhi’s death. Yet
Congress’s relentless shrinkage under Gandhi leadership—including in
the last election, when its overall vote-share actually fell—is evidence
of the family’s diminishing appeal. It will take more than a new Gandhi
to woo many people back from regional and caste-based parties, which
are more obviously devoted to dispensing the patronage poor Indians
crave.

Mr Gandhi, who can seem an awkward politician, though he is clearly

well-intentioned and no fool, knows this. In an interview in Delhi on
March 30th, the day before he launched his campaign in Wardha, he
was keen to discuss his ambitions—and fledgling efforts—to make
Congress more democratic. His vision is a party in which “it doesn’t
necessarily matter who your mother is or who your father is but how
many supporters you have in the district.” That would be good, and
may one day transpire. But if Congress wanted to be like that now, as
Mr Gandhi must also know, he would not be about to inherit it.