Extensive campaigns

Holding free and fair elections is no child’s play and the manner in which the Indian Election Commission completed the task deserves mention, even though it came under criticism from the two main parties—the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress, not to speak of other smaller and regional parties. But it is to the credit of these parties that they praised the Commission at the end of the elections. It must be mentioned that our own Election Commission conducted the last Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in a single day, which prevented any meaningful criticisms from being leveled against the constitutional body.

The Indian media reported that the BJP prime ministerial candidate created a record in election campaigning, criss-crossing India and addressing hundreds of rallies and partaking in road shows. The reports said that the BJP’s Narendra Modi traversed over 300,000 kilometres, mostly by helicopter. (Our leaders did the same in the last CA elections on a smaller scale while some parties, with enough funds to waste, extensively used helicopters.)

Same policy

The Indian election campaigns also saw plenty of mudslinging, particularly between the BJP top leader and the leaders of parties that opposed him. The way they ganged up against him could not but give the sense of how dirty politics can be. In fact, the ganging up of some major and minor parties against Modi might have helped, rather than hurt, his prospects of becoming the future Indian Prime Minister. The BJP and its allies, on the other hand, were no less vocal in speaking out against ‘dynastic rule’ in India.And in the process, outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was attacked for allegedly being under the remote control of this dynasty. But no matter how one looks at it, the elections in India are expected to oust the incumbent government and bring in a fresh team led by the main opposition party, the BJP. This is at least what, according to most Indian media outlets, is being predicted based on exitpolls. As a neighbour, and as India readies itself for a new government in New Delhi, it would be wise on the part of our leaders to be fully aware of Indian

policy shifts.

Narendra Modi, in the course of an interview to one Indian news channels, said without any hesitation that foreign policy had never been an issue in this or previous Indian elections. The same point was put forward by one of the Indian Congress spokespersons when queried on another Indian news channel. These statements should come as an eye-opener to all those who believe that things would have been different if the BJP had been in power in 2006 when the Janaandolan took place in Nepal. Instead, India’s policy towards Nepal has remained the same under the Congress and the BJP governments—whether the Prime Minister in India was Morarji Desai or Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Manmohan Singh. Why, otherwise, would the official request—the first such request—made by then Prime Minister Manmohan Adhikari go neglected until another of Nepal’s prime ministers reneged on the issue and agreed to continue the ‘special relations’ with India. The statements by the top

leaders of the two main Indian political parties should not be lost on our leaders, who will need to work extra hard and as a united front if we want to break free of this very bond.

Money and politics

Another aspect of the recent Indian elections was the close relationship between money and politics. Electioneering has become a marketing strategy these days, where a lot has to be invested in order to come to power and thereby recoup investment and benefits. Learning from the Indian elections, our leaders need to consult with experts and devise ways to ensure that election spending by political parties and candidates is well within reasonable limits in the new statute. That the election expenses by political parties during electioneering come only through their cadres and voluntary donations is not believable. So where do the parties get their funds? By robbing banks? By looting the rich or by building ‘confidential’ relations with big businesses, giving rise to an undisclosed but cozy nexus between politics and business? Hence, the new constitution needs to ensure the need for real transparency in the financial affairs of political parties.

This can be done either by the statute itself or by delegating powers to the Election Commission. And indeed, the Election Commission needs to be given much more power than it now enjoys. So do the anti-corruption bodies, like the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority. For instance, the government announces the poll dates in Nepal while in India, this is done by the Election Commission. This may be alright for electing a Constituent Assembly but not for a legislative assembly because the ruling party or the ruling coalition will choose dates that will be most suitable for it. There are so many other lessons that we can learn from the present Indian elections and as we try to draft a constitution, those responsible must seek the advice of non-partisan but democratically minded experts to help in the process.