March 20, 2013
The papal elections took less than two days to elect a new leader for 1.2 billion people.
Indian and world election campaigns have been evolved, or devolved in to marathons. In America alone they are ultra-marathons far longer than in any other democracy in the world. Every citizens of each nation would agree with the propositions that elections are too expensive, that they impede sensible governance, that they devour the time and energy of officials on the taxpayers' payroll and that they have become more obnoxious.
In India, usually campaign is the period when the political parties put forward their candidates and arguments with which they hope to persuade people to vote for their candidates and parties. The official campaign lasts at least two weeks. Once an election has been called, parties issue manifestos detailing the programmes they wish to implement if elected to government, the strengths of their leaders, and the failures of opposing parties and their leaders. Slogans are used to popularise and identify parties and issues, and pamphlets and posters distributed to the electorate. Rallies and meetings where the candidates try to persuade, cajole and enthuse supporters, and denigrate opponents, are held throughout the constituencies. Personal appeals and promises of reform are made, with candidates travelling the length and breadth of the constituency to try to influence as many potential supporters as possible. Party symbols abound, printed on posters and placards. Million question it that do you agree this kind of talkative, gossiping exercises are required? Does this exercise are educative or a futile exercise to waste tax payers money ? Our politicians alone would fly every destination by any available travelling machinery comfort of their choice. Therefore, by this twoweeks election campaign along might cost double than all Asian countries elections cost put together.
However, with us there are tight legal limits on the amount of money a candidate can spend during the election campaign. In most LokSabha constituencies the limit as recently amended in December, 1997 is Rs 15,00,000/-, although in some States the limit is Rs 6,00,000/- (for VidhanSabha elections the highest limit is Rs 6,00,000/-, the lowest Rs 3,00,000/-). Although supporters of a candidate can spend as much as they like to help out with a campaign, they have to get written permission of the candidate, and whilst parties are allowed to spend as much money on campaigns as they want, recent Supreme Court judgements have said that, unless a political party can specifically account for money spent during the campaign, it will consider any activities as being funded by the candidates and counting towards their election expenses. Supreme Court guidelines are fair enough. However, at the end of the day it is candidate who has the last laugh spending at his will.
Long elections are an anomaly in US history and internationally. Most democracies seem to have learned that campaigns bring out the worst in politicians so best to keep them short. In parliamentary systems, campaigns generally take four to six weeks. The last campaigns in the France and the UK took one month. Israel's last election began on 9 October, 2012 and the voting was held on 22 January. Canada's longest campaign ever lasted 74 days. In India the official campaign lasts at least two weeks from the drawing up of the list of nominated candidates, and officially ends 48 hours before polling closes.To have a look at the American presidential campaign, season lasts 10 months, from the New Hampshire primary in early January to the voting on the first Tuesday in November. There is a legitimate argument about whether the cost of campaigns is as malevolent as the press assumes. The last presidential race cost something north of $5bn (£3.3bn) by most estimates. Some see the ads, emails and tweets this money funds as important expressions of free speech, signs of an engaged and argumentative democracy. They might add that $5bn is peanuts compared with the money spent advertising snack food, soda pop, beer or cars.
Yet the simplest fix of all, shortening the campaign season, has never been put on the table. Most democracies seem to have learned that campaigns bring out the worst in politicians, so best to keep them short. Therefore, it would be feasible if the world election system might need some kind of College of Cardinals to resurrect the older system as a better way of holding elections in a shortest time possible even at certain point might revive the lost money during the previous elections. Adopting to this suggestion physically could be little hard but it should be stop provoking – food for good thought.