Free and Fair Elections in India

Mike Ghouse

The US India Policy Institute has organized seminars and workshops to address the question of fair and free elections in India. The US India Policy Institute is a community supported Non-Profit Policy Think Tank based in Washington. They specialize in Human Development Research and empowerment of India’s vulnerable communities.

The talks in Washington were co-sponsored by the Federations of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America, and the Center for Pluralism, both Washington based institutions. The other events are taking place in Minneola, San Jose, Phoenix and New York.

The first event was held at Capitol Hill, SVC 215 in the US Capitol, Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, May 2, 2018, and the second event was held at the United Methodist building next to the US Supreme Court.

Thanks to Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana for facilitating the Conference room in the Senate side of the Capitol. Thanks to Greg Mitchell coordinator of International Religious freedom working group for moderating the event.

Dr. S.Y. Quraishi spoke at the event; he is a former Chief Election Commissioner of India. Who has introduced a number of innovative election reforms to ensure fair and free elections and every voter was included in the exercise. He was honored in the roster of 100 Most Powerful Indians in 2011 and 2012 by the Indian Express.  He authored a monumental book 'An Undocumented Wonder - the Making of the Great Indian Election' that got rave reviews internationally. Dr. Quraishi is well known in India and abroad as a development thinker and for his inclusive style of leadership.

Mrs. Ila Sharma also spoke at the event; she is current Election Commissioner of Nepal, she is committed to strengthen and sustain the newest Democracy. (need more write up)

Dr. Quraishi’s talk was full of hope. It is good to know that Indian Democracy continues to shine despite the challenges she faces. It was a joy to hear the practice of inclusiveness and the tamper-proof built-in checks and balances to ensure free and fair elections. 

Dr. Quraishi and has instituted systems to safeguard free and fair elections. He allayed many apprehensions that people had about tampering with the voting. The examples and anecdotes he shared make you admire the Democracy in India.

Indeed, there were accusations by both the political parties in India that EVM’s, i.e., Electronic Voting Machines were manipulated by the other when they lost. There is no way it could happen; there is nothing more substantial proof that after the Modi wave in 2014, AAP party won 67 out of the 70 assembly seats in New Delhi Assembly. This situation would not have happened if the elections tampered. Modi’s party lost several seats in Assembly Elections in Gujarat and by-elections’ in Rajasthan and the state of Bihar.  As long as men like Dr. Qureshi and others honest guys like him run the government agencies, we can count on free and fair elections.

For the first time in human history, an immortal declaration of independence was made in 1776, which read, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;”

The year 1776 was the birth of a new way of governance, where people chose who will govern them and also who will decide the areas they would rule. Liberty and Justice were strong values. Thanks to the United States for taking that bold step in 1776, and today more and more nations are developing that model, and tyrants, dictators, and monarchs will be a thing of the past in a few decades. Let people decide what works for them.

India has the distinct honor of being the largest democracy in the world. Indian Elections have never missed the deadline and credibility of the outcome were never challenged. Winston Churchill may have been a great man, but was a racist and had the arrogance to believe that Indians will not be able to manage their affairs.

Women have equal voting rights from Day #1, care is taken to facilitate the disabled, illiterate, and they created an open category to accommodate the Transgender Indians as others to the Male, Female category. Thus 3 million transgender voters were empowered.

It is hard to imagine the significant numbers, but try to absorb these numbers. India managed 834 Million voters – to understand the numbers, here are the stats Dr. Quraishi presented;

• Entire Europe (50 Countries) -  731m people with 949 m voters
• Whole Africa (54 Countries)  -  922 m people with 566 m voters  
• The  Americas (56 Countries) -  910 m people with    560 m voters
• India, just one nation  - 1.22 b people with 834 m voters
•  India has more voters than every CONTINENT!
• Preventing Intimidation and fraud
• Vulnerability Mapping: a response to threat and intimidation of voters.
•  86,782 villages / hamlets  identified as vulnerable.
• 373,886 persons identified as potential troublemakers.
• Preventive measures are taken.
• Videographers (74,729) Digital cameras (40,599) deployed: a great deterrent
• Hardly any complaint of threat and intimidation.
• More than 1.8 million EVMs deployed. India was the first country
• EVMs now used universally in all Elections.
• Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) introduced.

Voter Education

Instead of making the voting compulsory, the Election commission chose the education route; Democracy is not about compulsion.  Dr. Quraishi gives the results of such efforts.

Women turnout jumped from 55 to 66%, and the gender gap got reduced to 1.46 percentage points.

The independent, London reports;

India confirms its status as a democratic beacon. For this chaotic nation - with its almost unfathomable religious, linguistic and social diversity - not only to hold free and fair elections but also to deliver stable government is a remarkable achievement. 

The Next Day Mrs. Ila Sharma, current Elections commissioner of Nepal appraised of the situation in Nepal. Indeed, Nepal may be the first country in the world where women have equal rights, and those rights are enforced.  Every major office holders like President and VP, Mayor and Dy Mayor, are required to be a man and a woman team in varying combinations to fill in the positions, and 41% of their parliament members are women. She is a great spokesperson for Nepal. I think the United States will see a large number of gender representation this mid-term election.

The power

The Chief Elections commissioner has the powers vested in him/her to stop fraud and even can call on the Prime Minister of the country to back off if there is undue influence. 

Dr. Quraishi shared some fantastic anecdotes, here are a few;

The commission wanted to make sure that every voter has access to a polling booth.  They have trekked 22 miles once to reach a Himalayan outpost to capture 37 voters there.

The voting machines are certified for correctness by both the opposite parties and are tested and certified for accuracy.  The most important thing is they respond to fraud instantaneously with 3 Million (??) election administrators in nearly a million booths.

There are challenges to be met.  It is not an easy task to manage the world’s biggest election event.  Just like our President can appoint all conservative or liberal judges to tilt the Supreme Court decisions, the government of the time names the commissioners. If they give a tilt, there will be compromises in handling the conflicts.

In the upcoming Elections, 1.8 Million voters in one of the 29 states are not on the roster. Thanks to the efforts of USIPI and CRDDP, they approached the Election commission, and they extended the time to register to vote.

You can purchase a copy of his book, “An Undocumented Wonder – The making of Great Indian Election.”

 I am proud of India but very concerned with the trends of dictatorship emerging in the Indian democracy without sufficient opposition. I hope the Indians, in their long-term interests, will add a strong opposition in both the houses of the parliament to ensure responsible government.

Other nations matter to me, and I am concerned about the world in general, but my first obligation is to America, my homeland, and India, my motherland.

Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is president of the Center for Pluralism.