But
the Government's frenetic efforts to provide state funding
for elections is a classic prescription of a placebos for
a deep-rooted political malaise. Public funding in itself,
like placebos or vitamins, is harmless, or even desirable.
But that does not address the underlying causes of the crisis.
In a democratic society all power is a means to promoting
public good. Therefore political activity has to be supported
by the public in some form or the other. Otherwise, power
becomes the private preserve of the privileged and the wealthy,
creating an undesirable plutocracy. Many democracies have
sensible public funding models. In the US, the world's most
libertarian society zealously guarding individual rights
and limiting state's role, government funding is available
for the presidential elections - both at the primaries and
the general election - subject to certain conditions. In
most European countries, parties are funded by state for
normal political activity and election campaigns, usually
at a standard rate per vote obtained by the party. Therefore,
as a principle, public funding cannot be faulted. But this
knee-jerk response of public funding ignores two vital issues.
First,
already there is significant indirect public funding available
to parties in India. The Election and other Related
Laws Amendment Act, 2003 was a remarkable piece of legislation
accomplished by the good sense of the then NDA government
and the opposition Congress. In the wake of the Tehelka
episode, Congress party constituted a committee headed by
Dr Manmohan Singh, and its report was accepted by the then
government. As a result, significant changes were made in
law: explanation one under Section 77 of the R P Act, 1951
was effectively repealed, removing exemptions which made
a mockery of election expenditure ceiling; full tax exemption
was made available to all individual and corporate donors
for political contributions; disclosure of all contributions
of Rs 20,000 or more was made compulsory; and a provision
was made to give free air time to all recognized parties
in all channels, including local cable networks. The last
of these provisions has not come into effect as the rules
have not been made for over two years! Once fully implemented,
tax-free contributions and free airtime creatively used
in public and private channels will substantially meet the
legitimate election campaign requirements. As democracies
become mature, the most valuable resource for parties is
television time. About 70% of all election expenditure in
the US is on TV ads. And once free airtime is available
most campaign needs are met. In any case, public funding
will have to be within the ceiling prescribed by law (Rs
10 lakhs for Assembly and Rs 25 lakhs for Lok Sabha in most
states). Therefore, public funding, though desirable, is
of marginal added value.
Second,
the real cost of elections is not for legitimate campaigning
purposes. Most estimates indicate that about Rs 3 to
5 crores is spent by candidates for Lok Sabha and upto Rs
1 crore for Assembly in many states. While about 30% of
it is legitimate campaign cost, the rest is spent illegitimately
to buy votes, bribe officials and hire muscle men. The recent
elections to titular municipalities in Andhra Pradesh, excluding
the two largest cities of Hyderabad and Vizag, cost about
Rs 500 - 700 crores for candidates! Kanakapura by-election
in Karnataka saw about Rs 20 crore expenditure about 2 ½
years ago, though there were no real political stakes in
the outcome. Large expenditure does not necessarily guarantee
victory. But modest and legitimate expenditure within the
bounds of law almost certainly guarantees defeat in most
cases! Any public funding can only help meet the legitimate
campaign costs, and does not address the vast, growing illegitimate
expenditure.
Why
is so much money spent for illegitimate purposes? The answer
lies in the nature of our first-past-the-post (FPTP), winner-take-all
electoral system in a poor country. Generally, about 80%
of the vote is cast on the basis of the party's image and
appeal, or anger against rival parties. But the marginal
vote that a candidate manages to secure is the key to victory.
Therefore parties, in their quest for power, are desperate
to nominate candidates who can muster the marginal vote.
Given our conditions, the winning vote to trump the rival
is mobilized by money and liquor, caste, muscle power, and
strong family roots in politics. This makes parties dependent
on local fiefdoms and money bags. Often, both the leading
parties deploy similar candidates. In a system of compensatory
errors, the misdeeds of each are neutralized by the other,
and the aggregate outcome does seem to be broadly reflective
of public mood. But given the distortions of candidate nomination,
huge, unaccounted expenditure, and unholy means deployed,
no matter which candidate or party is elected, the quality
of governance is inevitably perverted.
Politics
has thus become big business demanding multiple returns.
Transfers, contracts, police cases and influence peddling
(mining, regulation etc.) are the chief sources of ruling
party legislators. MP or MLA LADS, cash for questions, constituency
level public works, and nuisance value for industries are
the sources of income for the opposition legislators. Left
parties are generally exempt from this, as are the many
honourable men and women of integrity in other parties,
who are struggling against great odds to survive in public
life with honesty. When the incentives in the political
system are grossly distorted, no amount of public funding
will address the crisis.
What,
then, is the answer? We need to eliminate the importance
of the marginal vote in elections. 101 democracies world-wide
have party list systems with some form of proportional representation.
Only 47 have FPTP system, and many like New Zealand, Sri
Lanka, and even Britain (in regional and European parliament
elections) have given it up. Once we switch over to multi-member
constituencies based on party lists, candidate choice will
improve and money power will be irrelevant, as success is
not based on marginal vote. This only requires a simple
law, as the Constitution permits it. In fact, in 1952 and
1957, we accommodated SC and ST reservations in multi-member
constituencies in India.
Will
parties listen? Congress, BJP and Left parties have a lot
to gain by list system. Already, in most large states the
national parties are getting marginalized, yielding space
to local parties. This is because their modest vote share
does not yield electoral success, and therefore many voters
switch loyalties quickly. All parties have stakes in political
reform. Rarely do we have a solution which is good both
for the nation and the parties. If nothing else, enlightened
self interest should propel our parties to reform the system
and clean up politics. Symbolic and ritualistic responses
will not do.
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