Parties must debate allurements folly

Much has been written about the political implications of the fiercely-fought Munugode bypoll in Telangana, which the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has won, defeating its nearest rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), by a little over 10,000 votes. Assembly elections for the state are a year away, and the scales can change in favour of either party. But, what is unlikely to change and, as such, must be a serious cause of concern, is the influence of money, liquor and other inducements.

Earlier this year, the Election Commission (EC) had enhanced the election expenditure ceiling for candidates in parliamentary and assembly constituencies to Rs 95 lakh and Rs 40 lakh, respectively. In Munugode, it was evident to everyone that candidates of the major parties spent much more than `40 lakh. Voters themselves admitted on camera that they had been given Rs 4,000–Rs 5,000 each, and in a few instances, they took to the streets to demand even gold coins that were allegedly promised. And there were reports of supply of liquor worth almost Rs 200 crore by the two main contestants—TRS and BJP. 

Leaders of these two parties accused one another publicly of shelling out hundreds of crores to bribe the voters. This begs the question of whether the entire democratic exercise has been reduced to a farce. Without insulting the intelligence of the voters, we can safely say that bribes in cash and kind do impact an election since a sizeable number of the electorate now deem it their right to receive and the parties their compulsion to give. In other words, here we have voters and parties caught in a vicious cycle. Any candidate who seeks votes without offering doles, just on the strength of their sincerity of purpose, is more likely than not to lose. Who do we blame for this sorry state of affairs—the EC, the parties or the voters?

To be fair to the Election Commission, it can only monitor and dispatch forces to ensure the smooth conduct of the elections. The enforcement authorities, too, can only intercept cash or liquor flow to some extent. To pin the blame on them is to ignore the larger picture. If our democracy is to be meaningful, all the major political parties ought to realise that this is an unsustainable model to fight elections. Primary responsibility lies with them. This issue must be hotly debated first, not who won or lost and why.