Time for Decisive Citizen Participation

Now that the dismaying business of Cabinet formation in Maharashtra is over, so is the 5-yearly drama of Assembly elections. The date has changed but very little else.

The politics of Maharashtra seem to have spun out of citizen control. Citizen problems, needs and demands were given short shrift in the choice of candidates and the content of manifestos. In an issue-less election, with an array of dull, or corrupt, or obscure, or non-performing, or sectarian candidates to choose from, fully half of those entitled to choose simply kept away from the polls.

The Greater Mumbai turnout was higher than expected: 52% in the suburbs and 48% in the island city, or some 50% overall. In the more populous part of the city, the suburbs, turnout was nearly 20% higher than in April, for the Lok Sabha polls.

Some 25% of the candidates had no criminal record but as many as 45% of those elected did, with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) topping the list; all their MLAs have crimes to their discredit. Twentyfour of the citys 36 MLAs are crorepatis. The rest, with only a single exception, are lakhpatis. About a third of them are graduates or better.

Thirtyfive of the 36 chosen ones in Mumbai are from mainstream parties, which fielded 419 candidates. Other parties and Independents nominated 314 candidates, of whom only one was elected. Some 200 were Independents most of whom lost their deposits.

Six MLAs have serious charges of causing hurt with dangerous weapons, of extortion, promoting enmity between different groups, robbery, wrongful confinement and causing death by negligence. Elsewhere in Maharashtra, MLAs have even more serious pending charges against them eg murder and dacoity.

An Issue-less Election?

The issue in these elections, if any, was the rise of divisive politics in the shape of Raj Thackeray and his MNS. It won 13 of the Assemblys 288 seats, 6 of Mumbais 36 but just 5% of the total votes cast in the State, many losing their deposits. But the methods used by the party to enforce its will are more significant than numbers or percentages. The attack on Abu Azmi on the floor of the House provides testimony. One senior member of the MNS said, We may be in the Opposition, but you will see how a parallel government is possible.

The MNS split the vote that may have gone to the Shiv Sena. So this was an election more lost by the aspirants than won by the incumbents. Deciding factors were election strategy and alliances, not political performance or promise. Once again, the citizen lost.

So now what?

Old familiar faces and minds belonging to corrupt, ineffective, dont-care legislators are back for another five years. The only way to dispel a little of the darkness is for citizens to come together in their own interest. To do what? An obvious strategy is to mobilize two other forces in our democracy, the media and the judiciary, to make better MLAs of bad ones. How? By demanding accountability of elected representatives and the Government they form, employing the media and the courts to amplify their voice.

There are enough laws, regulations, codes, guidelines, obligatory duties / services and commission reports that lay down what the Government should be doing, conceiving and enforcing. Holding our rulers to those norms should suffice. We also have RTI to help unearth facts and truths of administration to raise issues in the media and, where necessary, in the courts.

It is well known that, once we elect them to office, politicians desert us, whose power they exercise. Their only loyalties are to their high commands and themselves. All other forces are measured in the way these two all important interests are served. AGNI proposes to come back to its friends in civil society with proposals for consideration in this crucial area. In the meantime, this is a summary of activities that AGNI undertook for and during the elections.

AGNI and the Assembly elections 2009

Pre-election

" A college student enrolment drive was conducted. The Chief Electoral Officer was requested to write, and wrote, to some 80 college principals about facilitating the initiative. Nearly 10,000 students were newly registered.
" AGNI drafted, printed / duplicated a Citizen Charter, evolved after wide consultation which was presented to candidates for their adoption. A dozen signed.

" The electoral rolls and supplementaries, committed to CDs, were collected, widely distributed and used to inform and clarify.

" Election Photographic Identity Cards (EPICs): numerous meetings were held in localities and wards, organized by AGNI Ward Coordinators and Lead Volunteers. Officials, staff and equipment of the State Electoral Offices were mobilized at such gatherings and some 4,000 EPICs were printed on the spot and distributed.
" Mumbai Election Watch was formed in Constituency 187 comprising Dignity Foundation, the Bombay Catholic Sabha, NAGAR/CitiSpace, Association for Democratic Reforms and AGNI. Work was coordinated by a Core Group and their networks were employed for various types of election duties. This was replicated in 16 other constituencies of Mumbai.

" Eight Meet Your Candidate events were organized.

Awareness and Communications

" In Mumbai, school children wrote postcards to the parents urging that they vote. This was an initiative organized by principals, supported by the Archbishop of Mumbai, the Archdiocesan Board of Education as well as the Chief Electoral Officer and his team.

" Comparative statements of candidate disclosures about themselves on affidavits were collected (some 2,500), analyzed and distributed in their thousands by AGNI and ADR.

" Internet and SMS campaigns were run to inform citizens on election related subjects and urged them to vote on October 13.

" Many hundred volunteers were mobilized by AGNI Ward Coordinators and their Joint Area Action Groups.

" Posterettes, leaflets and banners were widely distributed and used.

On Election Day

" House-to-house calls, telephone campaigns and booth level facilitation.

" A Street Play by children, directed by Raell Padamsee, and one by students of KC College of Management Studies in gardens and at street corners to promote voting.