India’s Experiment with Democracy review: How to make electoral process transparent

In India's Experiment With Democracy: The Life of a Nation Through its Elections (HarperCollins India), former Chief Election Commissioner of India S. Y. Quraishi takes us through the not-so-smooth journey that our country embarked upon and the breakthroughs as well as hiccups that we encountered along the way. The book is divided into several chapters, each covering a significant aspect of electoral democracy and the challenges it faces today. Simultaneously, it also explores some international cases to understand the diverse electoral processes from around the world.

Nexus between crime and politics

The first chapter covers the basics of the general elections, introducing us to the strenuous work that bureaucrats started since1947, which resulted in the first general elections in 1951. It then navigates through the party systems, the Election Commission, and the reforms that are needed today. The author also highlights the gradual shift in the public perception of the ECI after its initiatives to promote vote awareness, like its bid to celebrate National Voters’ Day on January 25. It also depicts the challenges that the ECI faces today, including a trust deficit, a flawed appointment system, and several other issues, for which the author also suggests specific solutions.

Keeping the recent political controversies in mind, the chapter about the Symbols Act helps us grasp the deliberations that the EC goes through whenever there’s a split in a party and the tussle for its symbol ensues. Through various events that have occurred in the past few years, Quraishi explains the legal aspects that the EC has to consider while making a decision. Starting with the fact that the EC cannot initiate a suo moto proceeding until a faction from the disputed party reaches out for recognition as the legitimate party. Then a tug of war ensues where both the factions have to prove that it has the greater support from all elected representatives as well as party office bearers. The chapter also covers the transformation of our electoral system when we transitioned from using ballot papers to electronic voting machines (EVMs). The author presents a case in favour of these machines and argues that no party has been able to prove that they can be hacked or tampered with. He also traces its evolution and suggests certain improvements that can be implemented to make its functioning more efficient.

Aside from a few distinct cases, India has successfully conducted elections at regular intervals without fail. However, as time progresses, any system would require certain reforms to prevent it from becoming redundant. Under electoral reforms, the author examines the pros and cons of simultaneous elections such as the eradication of constant election mood, cost per election, weaponization of vices like communalism, regionalism, etc. and tries to look towards building consensus among different political parties for the same and, simultaneously, eradicating the immense money and muscle power that influences our polity.

Money and muscle lead to crime and, inevitably, to the nexus between crime and politics. While the EC has indeed incorporated some necessary requirements for candidates to contest elections, like declaring their assets and disclosing any pending cases against them, these measures are insufficient. This book delves deeper into the irrefutable connection between politics and criminals and underlines how even the courts have failed to devise necessary regulations to keep the two entities separate.

Improving the electoral process

At a time when the Supreme Court recently reserved its judgment regarding the validity of electoral bonds, the in-depth analysis on electoral funding in the book helps clarify things. Quraishi questions the opaque nature of electoral bonds and how it protects the identities of the donors, making it difficult for the public to trace potential quid pro quo decisions in favour of these donors. The alternative he proposes is state-funded elections, which may seem far-fetched but is a much better option than the current system. Demonetization is also discussed in this book, where the author points out that even though the process has been projected as an exercise which helped curb black money from the system, it fails to portray what systemic changes have been made so that black money would be kept away from the same system. If reforms aren’t systemic, then it would fail to achieve its goal in the long run.

Another aspect of a healthy democracy is a free and fair media. However, due to the corporate funding of media houses and their reliance on government ads, it is not possible for them to freely and without favour. The way the media, especially the mainstream visual news channels, has devolved into mouthpieces of the state and communal forces in recent times, it has become more of a burden rather than a boon. The author points out how historically TRP (Television Rating Point) has been manipulated and how news channels’ dependence on it is a detriment to their work. He also mentions other segments on these channels like opinion polls which influence the voters to a great extent, and advocates for revolutionary changes to improve our democratic setup.

With decades of experience working in various roles for the state and later serving as the Chief Election Commissioner, S. Y. Quraishi’s understanding of democracy and its gradual unfolding reaching the corners of the country isn’t superficial. His perspective goes beyond the idealistic image of democracy; he sees it through a critical lens, examining its limitations while also offering constructive alternatives for the betterment of the system. Taking the example of Bahujan Samaj Party which got the third highest national vote share in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and yet faired zero seats, he suggests replacing the present first-past-the-post (FPTP) system where the candidate with the most number of votes in a constituency wins with a mixture of FPTP with proportional representation (PR) where the voter has to vote all the contesting candidates in their area as a ranking and as per the total percentage of votes that a party gets, accordingly that proportion of their candidates are elected.

Taking examples from all over the world, Quraishi tries to present several solutions to the numerous problems that our democracy is suffering from. He provides a comprehensive account of the journey of Indian democracy, with all its achievements and impediments. His viewpoint is not limited to that of a bureaucrat or an Election Commissioner but also of a common man, which makes this book both unique and relatable. He stresses upon the need to keep on fighting the divisive forces and hatred that aims at desecrating the social fabric of India and calls upon the youth to realize their duties and work towards improving our collective lives. With the General Elections around the corner, this book offers readers an opportunity to revisit the path India has travelled since Independence, and explores ways to make our electoral process more inclusive and transparent.