The Color Of Money

The Union cabinet cleared the proposal for public funding of elections around this time in 2005.Everyone wants India to initiate a thorough reform of its election processes. The Election Commission is the place to begin that process. Urban India often forgets that the panchayat election is the most contested of all elections and has more money spent per voter than in any other. Public funds should remain for public good, writes Manvendra Singh in The Indian Express.

As if on cue, India periodically begins the debate on public funding for elections. A memory recall reminds me that the Union cabinet cleared the proposal for public funding of elections around this time in 2005. And as far as memory serves, the proposal was sent to the law ministry for approval/processing. Now that sounds exactly like the Afzal Guru file, which is precisely the motive behind the periodical references to this route for electoral reforms.It is everybody’s case that India initiates a thorough reform of its election processes. The Election Commission is the place to begin that process.

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They are also the elections that have the highest polling percentages. In its obsession with the Parliament and legislature, urban India forgets that the panchayat election is the most contested of all elections. Per voter there is more money spent in a panchayat election than any other. And in fact the Parliament election becomes the cheapest in that sense. And that matches the polling figures too, with panchayats leading the race, and Parliament bringing up the rear. There are various reasons why the panchayat election is the most contested of all, ranging from prestige in the village to the fact of influencing more development funds than any other elected post. All of this stays under the radar, for it doesn’t make good daily conversation in urban India. This is the reality that the country will have to face before it can begin an honest debate on electoral funding reforms.

So where do the panchayat funds come from, when many states don’t have party symbols for those elections? Obviously the money is coming from somewhere, and in proportionately bigger quantities than it does for Parliament elections. Election funding reforms, therefore, must cover the entire gambit of the Indian scenario. It would be discriminatory and snobby if the attention to reform were aimed only at the Parliament or legislature levels. After all, the democratic process covers the entire gamut from panchayat to the Parliament levels.

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The general Indian attitude towards anything that carries a public fund label is that some of it is for the take. It is taken for granted that a portion can be diverted for other ends, and through other means. And with an impossible implementation procedure, it makes little sense to have public funds for elections. There are various proposals doing the rounds, but none that encompasses the sheer diversity and dynamism of Indian elections. Better let public funds remain for public good. The simplest solution, and one that encourages probity and honesty, is for a transparent and private, corporate, business or any other funding that is tracked by sourcing of monies. Let the funding be from any source, by cheques, and through a monitored bank account. There may be an individual bank account for each candidate, party etc. The sourcing for each constituency can be monitored, as also the vested interests that may exist. The vested interests can then be barred from benefiting financially or otherwise. It will then be known that for a particular panchayat election, the local PWD contractors contributed for a particular candidate. That is how it all begins. Let’s get the picture clear first.