Whitewashing Operation Clean-up.

(From Indian Express)

For many years, the Election Commission was a silent presence. Electoral rolls were revised, election schedules announced, candidates filed their nominations, long campaigns were conducted, polling took place, ballot papers were counted, the winning candidates were declared elected and the losers went home. There were some aberrations here and there, but no one seriously questioned the fairness or freeness of the elections. Fifty-five years after Independence, there are grave concerns about ''free and fair'' elections. There are some who will accept any kind of elections, but a large proportion of the electorate is extremely cynical about elections in India. In elections after elections, more people keep away from polling stations, and this despite polling day being declared a holiday. The average percentage of electors not turning up to vote is now over 40%. Low polling, however, is the least important concern. That would be like a mole or a skin lesion. The fact is that a virulent strain of cancer has spread throughout the body politic. Let us begin with the political parties and the process of selection and nomination of candidates. No political party-not the Congress, not the BJP, not the Communists-seems capable of keeping out criminals from securing the official nomination. The party leadership is either unaware of the antecedents of the candidates or it is overwhelmed by the money and the clout of the aspirants. Whatever be the reason, it is not possible to rely upon the political parties to ensure that criminals-convicts, undertrials and accused-are kept out of the fray. Next is the election campaign itself. It has been shortened to 14 days. Yet, the single most important factor in an election campaign is money. Every candidate is required to raise his own resources, and what the party gives is a bonus. The capacity to raise and spend a very large amount of money is what opens the door to undesirable candidates. As a result, many politicians befriend criminals and many criminals enter politics. Candidates-winners and losers-like to describe themselves as middle-class, if not poor. Many will not admit to owning property. Most do not pay income tax or wealth tax. Recently, The Indian Express published a list and, according to that list, George Fernandes, Ram Naik, Nitish Kumar, Uma Bharti, Ananth Kumar and Santosh Kumar Gangwar did not pay any income tax in the year in respect of which they filed a statement with the Prime Minister. Then, there is the question of educational qualifications. The issue may or may not be important for most voters, but it cannot be denied that it is relevant. There is, however, another issue that is both relevant and important, and that is the matter of criminal cases. Since we cannot depend upon political parties to keep criminals out, we must find some other way. That way, I believe, is to disqualify anyone who has been convicted or against whom charges in respect of serious crimes are drawn up by a court. Any disqualification has to be provided by law. It may not be feasible to enact such a law immediately, but the first step in this direction is disclosure of criminal cases which are pending and which have ended in conviction. ...