My words about Indian Elections in Friday Times.

Tassawur · #1 Sunday, April 20, 2014

Published in Friday Times

India is the largest democracy in the world and the ongoing elections are going to be the world’s largest.

Some 814 million Indians, more than the entire population of Europe, will cast their votes to elect the 16th Lok Sabha in India. There are a total of 543 parliamentary constituencies in India, and the winning party or coalition needs 272 seats to form the next government. The voting process has been divided into 9 phases that began on April 7 and will conclude on May 12.

This voting will take place across the length and breadth of the country, from the deserts of Rajasthan to the tiny islands in the Indian Ocean. The Election Commission of India has assured that no person needs to travel more than 2 kilometers to cast his vote. In 2009, a polling booth was created in Western Gujarat so that one single voter could cast his vote.

Regardless of the outcome, this would not merely be an exercise of choosing a new government in New Delhi, but the results of the Indian elections will have an impact on the world at large and the region in particular.

Unfortunately, since the inception of Pakistan, our experience with democracy has not been pleasant, and we have remained unable to develop a potent political culture. We need to observe keenly the experience of India and the present developments and learn from our archrival.

Fortunately, we already are on right track since 2007. A good number of steps that we can take pride in – including the purging of dictatorial tempering in the constitution, increased provincial autonomy through the 18th amendment, development of a consensus on 7th NFC awards, formulation of an independent election commission, and a peaceful transition of power – have proved instrumental in fostering democracy, revitalising the parliamentary system, and strengthening national institutions.

However, a lot still needs to be done to establish a democratic culture.

Towards this end, devolution of power to the grassroots level through local election can go a long way in nurturing democratic culture and establishing better governance.

We should wish India a peaceful election and should learn from their experience.

Tassawur Bosal,

Mandi Bahauddin.

Source:

Friday Times

Tassawur · #2 Monday, April 21, 2014

Let me clear one thing. That I didn't mean that we should start following India blindly in every sphere of life. In corruption , poverty, persecution of minorities and human rights violation , India has worst record. But , despite all that , democracy has had a smooth sailing there. On that front we can learn from our arch rival. That what were the factors which proved instrumental in giving democracy a smooth sailing in our neighbourhood. What reforms india has made in making election commission this much strong that despite elections taking place in the presence of a sitting govt , lesser voices are raised about rigging. And people have this much faith in the elections , election process and democracy that in few states the turn out touched the figure of 60 %.

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