If simultaneous elections become a reality, India will turn into a ‘managed democracy’
For long, commentators in the West have termed Vladimir Putin’s Russia a “managed democracy”, one that retains the pretence of free and fair elections and the rule of law but in reality is all choreographed. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of holding simultaneous state and parliamentary elections – which was discussed by a parliamentary committee for the first time last week – becomes a reality, India will join the club of the world’s managed democracies.Like all Modi slogans, his clarion call to hold simultaneous elections is extremely seductive. Don’t we middle-class Indians abhor the idea of frequent elections? Wasteful expenditure, noisy campaigns, political rallies blocking roads and disrupting our lives, frequent imposition of the model code of conduct and stalling of development works. These are some in a long list of complaints against the phenomenon of recurring elections. The solution to India’s chronic underdevelopment may perhaps lie in the panacea of holding one mega election every five years. Once a party is elected and governments are formed, they should get down to work and bother about seeking the people’s mandate only after five years. Maybe then, India will catch up with China. Big projects will take off. Bureaucracy will be more committed, the Opposition less strident, civil society more disciplined. Well, how compelling is this narrative?
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