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Taking Politics beyond Elections

Mazher Hussain

 It is a common and constant lament that politicians come to people once in five years – at the time of elections for seeking votes – and become unavailable and inaccessible thereafter. Further, elections are being increasing fought and votes solicited in the name of community, caste and regional affiliations rather than on the track record of service to the people.

 Setting up Political Competition

For all the elections, many candidates from different parties contest, only one can win and all others lose- some by a few thousand or even a few hundred votes. But after the election results are declared, people go only to the candidate who has won for the redress of all our issues and problems and do not think of also approaching any of the candidates or parties who have lost.

When the elected representatives fail to take up the representation due to other preoccupations or do not succeed in resolving the issues, people stop approaching these elected representatives and become disenchanted with the entire political class. We fail to realize that those who have lost the elections are also leaders, with the backing of political parties, cadre, some standing in society and influence with the government departments and officials. Being out of office, they will have more time available and having lost the elections they may end up with an increased desire to prove their influence and leadership stature.

 Experiences

Experiences have shown that if a representation is submitted to the elected representative and also to the defeated candidates of the area, the defeated candidates and parties appear more keen and faster in taking up the issues with the concerned authorities. Once the elected representative learns about the initiatives by the defeated candidate(s), he /she immediately plunges into action to take up the issue and the credit for its resolution. So the chances of people’s problems being addressed and resolved become much higher if both the elected and defeated leaders are approached.

The Flip Side:

The mindset in our country is such that those who have come to win elections tend to think that they have acquired absolute power over the entire constituency and nobody else should undertake any activity or development works in that area. If any one else, including the defeated candidates try, this could lead to friction.  However, this mind set has to be challenged and changed. Given the opportunity to take up issues, the defeated candidates would be more than willing to face the frictions and take up the challenge.

The elected representatives may also direct their ire against the members of the community for approaching the rival leaders for redress of problems and may even try to scuttle the resolution of the problem by influencing the officials and even succeed in doing so causing some inconvenience and suffering to the people. However, if enough and consistent initiatives are undertaken by the people to approach all the leaders of the area for their problems, and thereby set up the desired political competition, the elected representatives will have to change their attitudes or will face the prospects of defeat in the next elections.

Politics as Competition for Service to the People: The Advantages

Hence, the competition between politicians can be taken beyond votes and elections and into the domain of service to the people – even if it initially results in some frictions.  It is only if such political competition is set up across the spectrum of politics from the panchayats to the Parliament that politics can really be taken beyond elections and made a continuous competition for serving the people.

Presently, the general perception of the people about politics is restricted to an exercise of casting votes during elections with out expecting anything much in return from the politicians once the elections are over. In such a scenario, most could be tempted to extract whatever they can from the politicians at the time of elections and this leads to demands for money for casting votes and increase of money power in politics.

Secondly, when politicians are not expected to serve the people as a matter of course and when people realize that they may require some political interventions or support for some of their issues and problems, they come to believe that electing people from their own community may be helpful and the elected representatives may address their problems on considerations of kinship if not as a matter of political obligation of an elected representative towards a citizen. Finally, voting is also influenced by a sentiment that a member of their own group getting elected would be a matter of pride for the group / community even when the leader seeking vote is not perceived as beneficial or honest.

Hence when politics is perceived as delinked from service to the people, it could result in becoming vulnerable to considerations of money, criminal force and kinship resulting in corruption, criminalization and communalization of politics leading to divisive agendas and violence to influence electoral outcomes.

Once the voters get over the perception of elections as a five year ritual and when politics comes to be understood and practiced as service of the people, then  service and development would become the criteria for political preference –  elections would be taken as a referendum for services rendered or the potential to render better services and considerations of kinship, community affiliations, money power and criminality would become irrelevant and lose their potential to influence the outcomes of elections as happens today. This would also save people from the dangers and costs of divisive and corrupt politics and transform politics into a medium for the development and empowerment of people.

All this implies that setting up political competition between the candidates who have won the elections and those who have lost- at all levels- from the panchayats to the Parliament can not only transform politics to make it a service for the people but could also lead to substantial decrease in corruption, criminalization and communalization of politics.