Another promise

It is reported that leaders of political parties have pledged to abide by the law and refrain from displaying cutouts and posters in public places.

How far could they be believed? Candidates contesting the General election are not babies. Moreover, the majority of them have been involved in politics for a long time. Many of them are well-known public figures. A large number of them are contesting the elections not for the first time.

Similar promises were given earlier only to be forgotten no sooner they left the premises of the Election Commissioner’s office.

Why is it that they defy the law openly and in public gaze? It has been because the law has never been practised or offenders have rarely been brought before the Courts. The regularity of breaches of election law relating to election propaganda could only be second to that of the law prohibiting walking on rail tracks.

Any weapon, if not used gets corroded and become useless. Similarly the relevant elections laws have become obsolete and unusable by being not implemented.

The irony is that the public is paying for the folly of the politicians. The Elections Commissioner is paying the police for the removal of cutouts and posters. That means the Commissioner is using the money given to him by the Treasury. Thus it is the public that pay for the sins of politicians.

The law must be amended to make politicians responsible for these visuals, pay the cost of their removal. The law as it stands today is like a toothless paper tiger.

Though the police have removed most posters and cutouts they reappear again. There is absolutely no respect for the law. In fact the politicians argue that they need to do so because they have to inform the public about their numbers. This is a silly argument for there are many cheaper ways of doing so. Besides it is insane for a person to contest an election if he or she is not sufficiently known by the voters. Perhaps some of them may be thinking that they could get votes by liberally spending millions on publicity.

It has been the experience that such vulgar display of posters and cutouts lead to both inter-party and intra-party clashes. In fact, most incidents of election related violence are connected to them. The preferential voting system should be got rid of at the earliest opportunity if one is to minimize such violence.

Intra-party conflicts demean the party in the eyes of the voters and tend to reduce support among discerning voters.

All politicians and their aspirants should learn to acknowledge the right to dissent and the right of dissenting opinion to exist.

The indifference with which politicians treat the law of the land in respect of elections is also displayed by their reluctance or shyness to declare their assets as required by law. Only a handful of politicians have done so up to now.

Is it because they have something to hide or are unable to account how they got their assets?

One could safely conclude that the politicians have taken the law unto them and are flouting the law with impunity. Are they setting an example to the rest of the society and the underworld in particular?

Of course, the lack of civic consciousness on the part of the average voter is also to blame for this sad state of affairs. That is why it has become possible for politicians to lord over their electorates behaving more as a feudal Chieftain rather than a servant of the people.

Lovers and politicians

Lovers and politicians are strange bedfellows. What do they have in common, one might ask. A little bit of reflection would show that they have much in common.

For one, both lovers and politicians are famous for making promises. They both promise to get for their love even the moon and the sun. They both are also notorious for breaking the promises. Just as many lovers after marriage find that there is no love left to lose after marriage, politicians and voters also find that there is no love left to lose after an election victory.

The lover would even kneel down before his or her sweetheart before wedlock but would lord over the other after it just the same way candidates kneel before humble punchi singhos at election time only to lord over them after victory.

The commonalities could be listed ad infinitum but this would suffice for the present.