ASSEMBLY ELECTION IN HARYANA

ASSEMBLY ELECTION IN HARYANA

This newspaper report is about the state assembly election in Haryana in 1987. The State had been ruled by a Congress party-led government since 1982. Chaudhary Devi Lal, then an opposition leader, led a movement called ‘Nyaya Yudh’ (Struggle for Justice) and formed a new party, Lok Dal. His party joined other opposition parties to form a front against the Congress in the elections. In the election campaign, Devi Lal said that if his party won the elections, his government would waive the loans of farmers and small businessmen. He promised that this would be the first action of his government.

The people were unhappy with the existing government. They were also attracted by Devi Lal’s promise. So, when elections were held, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of Lok Dal and its allies. Lok Dal and its partners won 76 out of 90 seats in the State Assembly. Lok Dal alone won 60 seats and thus had a clear majority in the Assembly. The Congress could win only 5 seats.

Once the election results were announced, the sitting Chief Minister resigned. The newly elected Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of Lok Dal chose Devi Lal as their leader. The Governor invited Devi Lal to be the new Chief Minister. Three days after the election results were declared, he became the Chief Minister. As soon as he became the Chief Minister, his Government issued a Government Order waiving the outstanding loans of small farmers, agricultural labourers, and small businessmen. His party ruled the State for four years. The next elections were held in 1991. But this time his party did not win popular support. The Congress won the election and formed the government.

Activity :

A.   Jagdeep and Navpreet read this story and drew the following conclusions. Can you say which of these are right or wrong (or if the information given in the story is inadequate to call them right or wrong):

1.  Elections can lead to changes in the policy of the government.

2.  The Governor invited Devi Lal to become the Chief Minister because he was impressed with his speeches.

3.  People are unhappy with every ruling party and vote against it in the next election.

4. The party that wins the election forms the government.

5.  This election led to a lot of economic development in Haryana.

6. The Congress Chief Minister need not have resigned after his party lost elections.

B. Do you know when the last Assembly election was held in your state? Which other elections have taken place in your locality in the last five years? Write down the level of elections (National, Assembly, Panchayat, etc.), when were they held, and the name and designation (MP, MLA, etc.) of the persons who got elected from your area?

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK

WHY DO WE NEED ELECTIONS?

WHY DO WE NEED ELECTIONS?

Elections take place regularly in any democracy. There are more than one hundred countries in the world in which elections take place to choose people’s representatives. We also read that election are held in many countries that are not democratic.

But why do we need elections? Let us try to imagine a democracy without elections. A rule of the people is possible without any elections if all the people can sit together every day and take all the decisions. But as we have already seen in Chapter 1, this is not possible in any large community. Nor is it possible for everyone to have the time and knowledge to take decisions on all matters. Therefore in most democracies, people rule through their representatives.

Is there a democratic way of selecting representatives without elections? Let us think of a place where representatives are selected on the basis of age and experience. Or a place where they are chosen on the basis of education or knowledge. There could be some difficulty in deciding on who is more experienced or knowledgeable. But let us say the people can resolve these difficulties. Clearly, such a place does not require elections.

But can we call this place a democracy? How do we find out if people like their representatives or not? How do we ensure that these representatives rule as per the wishes of the people? How to make sure that those who the people don’t like do not remain their representatives? This requires a mechanism by which people can choose their representatives at regular intervals and change them if they wish to do so. This mechanism is called the election. Therefore, elections are considered essential in our times for any representative democracy.

In an election the voters make many choices:

*  They can choose who will make laws for them.

*  They can choose who will form the government and take major decisions.

*  They can choose the party whose policies will guide the government and law-making.

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK

WHAT MAKES AN ELECTION DEMOCRATIC?

WHAT MAKES AN ELECTION DEMOCRATIC?

Elections can be held in many ways. All democratic countries hold elections. But most non-democratic countries also hold some kind of elections. How do we distinguish democratic elections from any other election? We have discussed this question briefly in Chapter 1. We discussed many examples of countries where elections are held but they can’t really be called democratic elections. Let us recall what we learnt there and start with a simple list of the minimum conditions of a democratic election:

*  First, everyone should be able to choose. This means that everyone should have one vote and every vote should have equal value. 

*  Second, there should be something to choose from. Parties and candidates should be free to contest elections and should offer some real choice to the voters.

*  Third, the choice should be offered at regular intervals. Elections must be held regularly after every few years.

*  Fourth, the candidate preferred by the people should get elected.

*  Fifth, elections should be conducted in a free and fair manner where people can choose as they really wish.

These might look like very simple and easy conditions. But there are many countries where these are not fulfilled. In this chapter, we will apply these conditions to the elections held in our own country to see if we can call these democratic elections.

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK

IS IT GOOD TO HAVE POLITICAL COMPETITION?

IS IT GOOD TO HAVE POLITICAL COMPETITION?

Elections are thus all about political competition. This competition takes various forms. The most obvious form is competition among political parties. At the constituency level, it takes the form of competition among several candidates. If there is no competition, elections will become pointless.

But is it good to have political competition? Clearly, electoral competition has many demerits. It creates a sense of disunity and ‘factionalism’ in every locality. You would have heard of people complaining of ‘party-politics’ in your locality. Different political parties and leaders often level allegations against one another. Parties and candidates often use dirty tricks to win elections. Some people say that this pressure to win electoral fights does not allow sensible long-term policies to be formulated. Some good people who may wish to serve the country do not enter this arena. They do not like the idea of being dragged into the unhealthy competition.

Our Constitution makers were aware of these problems. Yet they opted for free competition in elections as the way to select our future leaders. They did so because this system works better in the long run. In an ideal world, all political leaders know what is good for the people and are motivated only by a desire to serve them. Political competition is not necessary in such an ideal world. But that is not what happens in real life. Political leaders all over the world, like all other professionals, are motivated by a desire to advance their political careers. They want to remain in power or get power and positions for themselves. They may wish to serve the people as well, but it is risky to depend entirely on their sense of duty. Besides even when they wish to serve the people, they may not know what is required to do so, or their ideas may not match what the people really want.

How do we deal with this real-life situation? One way is to try and improve the knowledge and character of political leaders. The other and more realistic way is to set up a system where political leaders are rewarded for serving the people and punished for not doing so. Who decides this reward or punishment? The simple answer is the people. This is what electoral competition does. Regular electoral competition provides incentives to political parties and leaders. They know that if they raise issues that people want to be raised, their popularity and chances of victory will increase in the next elections. But if they fail to satisfy the voters with their work they will not be able to win again.

So if a political party is motivated only by the desire to be in power, even then it will be forced to serve the people. This is a bit like the way the market works. Even if a shopkeeper is interested only in his profit, he is forced to give good service to the customers. If he does not, the customer will go to some other shop. Similarly, political competition may cause divisions and some ugliness, but it finally helps to force political parties and leaders to serve the people. 

Activity:

Read these two cartoons carefully. Write the message of each of them in your own words. Have a discussion in class on which of the two is closer to the reality in your own locality. Draw a cartoon to depict what elections do to the relationship between voters and political leaders.

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK