359 THE OXFORD COMPANION TO POLTTICS IN INDIA

If elections in India did not take the familiar and

Such as this requires, if it is to lead
tragic path in most former colonies, these also did
to
mean1ngful
outcomes, bridges or hinges which connect the two
not take the coveted path of Western democracies. different worlds. The institution of elections came
The designers of Indian democracy had expected that to
perform this crucial role in India. It became the
the institution of
regular and fair system of elections hinge that connected the existing social dynamics
would be accompanied by many features that they had to the new political structures of liberal democracy
seen in
European democracies: the consolidation of allowing for reciprocal intluence. Elections are often
political competition along the lines of a two-party the site for a fusion of popular beliefs and political
system, electoral choices being made by individual practices with high institutions of governance. Thus
voters along
ideological lines, elections becoming an election is an occasion for the transter ot energy and
occasion for effective accountability of the rulers to from the
the ruled and thus
resources
'unorganized to the
organized
producing policy outcomes that sector of democracy. This is the moment when the
work to the advantage of common citizens. More
legal-constitutional order of liberal democracy makrs
than half a century of
not fulilled this
representative democracy has a contact with the
messy social and poitical reality
expectation (Yadav 1999). We are of India. The chasm that separates the two worlds
beginning to be conscious that this expectation was and the absence or non-functioning of the other
not realistic in the first
placc. Elections in India did possible bridges has resulted in the unusual salicnce
not and could not have
produced the same outcomes of the institution of elections. This unique role is whe
as these did in the
first world. This differenceis accounts for the continued dynamism of the electoral
not the result of
any essential cultural difference or process in India, while a number of other imported
Indian exceptionalism; it is
simply
the outcome of the institutions and processes are
floundering
historically unique circumstances in which the game Speciically, Indian elections are not merely abou
of universal adult franchise was instituted in India.i the voters
choosing their representatives, indicating
The challenge therefore is to capture the specificity their preferences about public policies or
of this encounter between the modern structure of selecting
their govemments. In the absence of well
formal political choice and the historically constituted tunctioning
local bodies or accountable local oficials, elections to
public sphere with its own defnition of politics and its Parliament and state assemblies also perfomm a routine
patterns of organization of political interest.
municipal function of attending to local grievances
and connecting the people to the administration.
Notwithstanding a robust media that routinely uses
ATTRIBUTES
public opinion pols, elections are still the pruncipal
One of the first attributes of the Indian elections that occasion for dissemination of
strikes any observer is the role elections play in Indian
political ideas and
information and also the only reluable method to
poitics, as reflected in their public visibility. Banners, gaug
pubic opinion on the big issues facing the country
posters, and hoardings fill the streets; massive Elections are also an occasion for
processions and rallies are a norm; the media is full of
sertling, unsetting,
or
resetting local
equations of social dominance and
election news and every street corner is
buzzing with the arena of struggles for social
identity and digrnuity.
poltical gossip. Though on a steady decline of late, Elections force poltical parties to take into account
this kind of visibility of Indian elections
the pivotal role elections have come to
symbolizes deas, interests, and ent1ties that do not lend themsd
occupy in to casy g8egation through the instrumentalities of thr
Indian politics. If a tension between the
pre-existing 'organized' sector. Thus elections often appear as the
social form and the borrowed
legal-poltical structure ony bridge between the people and power, as the oal
provides the basic frame for understanding Indian
reality check in the polt1cal systerm. This accounts far
democracy, the story of Indian politics is a story of the the festival-ike character of the Lndian elections and
attempt by millions of ordinary people to write their the fierceness with which elections are contested here
own
political agenda in an alen script. An encount At the same time thus also means that elections are
 356 THE OXFORD COMPANION 10 POUTICs IN
INDIA

elections has achieved for the ordinary citizen, the election. In the 1970s and 1980s the voters voted in
answers are harder to
get and less
encouraging the state assembly elections as if they were choosing
Are Indian elections an effective instrument of their Prime Minister; since the 1990s
they vote in
meaningful political change? Indian elections have, Lok Sabha elections if
in
as they are
choosing their chief
a sense, over-corrected for the first stage of
one minister. This has reduced the
ability of national
parties
party dominance where each successive election and
used to
governments at the Centre to
present or claim
bring the same
party back to power. The a
general mandate, and has given
greater power to
period since the demise of the
Congress system poiticians and governments at the state level,
has witnessed a
very high rate of regime alteration. This has been accompanied by a serious and
At times the
casualty rate of the incumbent state substantial diution of state representation in the
government was as high as three-fourths (Yadav and upper house of the Parliament. As political parties
Palshikar 2009a). This was linked to a very high leve! freely shuffle nominatiohs to Rajya Sabha with Ltle
of aggregate volatility or a
high degree of shift in the regard to domicile and little fear of loss of credibility
vote share for all the
parties as well as a high level of the constitutional design of the upper chamberas
individual volatility or the proportion of voters who répresenting the interests of the states stands subverted
changed parties across two elections (Heath 2005). The Supreme Court's decision upholding the
This
legal
was widely perceived to be an anti-incumbency dilution of residential requirement in Rajya Sabha
reflet of the Indian voter. However, volatility need was a fatal setback in this respect. This paradoxical
not be seen as
synonymous with instability, or as development has produceda consequence thatno
an outcome of an
anti-incumbency itch, or as a sign one designed or anticipated: as Lok Sabha, rather
of a system which has not
yet settled down, almost than Rajya Sabha, becomes the principal arena for
threateningly so. Volatility is best interpreted as
the the representation of states, the onus of maintaining
voters' search for better
governance or responsivehes, the federal balance has also been shifted to Lok Sabba
a sign of social churning, and a routine oscillation that (Yadav 2007; McMillan 2001). This has served to
takes place in the absence of social transformation. legiliniæ aun il-conceived heeze in the Lok Sabha
Viewed in this frame, the real difñculty with Indian on the number of seats for each state which violates
elections is not that they lead to excessive change the basic principle of one-person-one-vote, besides
but that they offer little meaningful choice that can working to the disadvantage of some, of the already
be the basis of political change. While the number disadvantaged units of the Indian Union. A similar
of political parties has multiplied manifold, this has encounter between the political process and the
not led to any expansion in the choices available to institutional frame can be seen at the third tier of
the voters. Faced with this deadlock, the impulse for democracy The passage of the Seventy-third and
change degenerates into routine oscillation (Yadavand Seventy-fourth Amendments to the Constitution and
Palshikar 2003). the extension of constitutionally secured representative
Do elections offer an opportunity to reorganize politics to the third tier set in motion a political process
political power or for shifting the locus of power? that appears to be gaining momentum. At the same
At least in one respect the participatory upsurge has time the state governments appear determined not
resulted in very real changes in the locus of political to grant any real powers or resources to the new ter
power. Whereas the Constitution of India provided of political representation. Instead of redistributing
for a weak federal system, and the post-lndependence resources and redirecting developmental policies at

period was characterized by a clear centralization of the local level, the principal function that the third
political power, a process of 'electoral federalism' has tier performs now is to supply cadre and lower leved
seen the diffusion of some central
power and a stronger functionaries to political parties in desperate need of
role for state governments. As competitive politics has an organization. Often it is much worse: the polücal
taken a decisive 'regional' turn, the state has become energy released by this process leads to an intense,
dominanor
the effective level of poitical choice ina Lok Sabha violent but vacuous quest for local political
 How have the democratic upsurge, electoral poor that do not possess a self-conscious political
volatility, and the shift in the locus of political power identity. The Women's Reservations Bill has brought
affected the pattern of social dominance ? Since some attention to the fact that women's
presence
elections is seen to be an affirmation in legislatures has actually witnessed a
participation in
marginal
of citizenship, the very act of participation confers decline since Independence (Dhanda 2008). There
dignity on the hitherto excluded segments of society. is no such data to track the presence of the
'poor
This opens up the potential for the mobilization of in our legislatures. But if the episodic analysis
group interests, and at the extreme the potential for the disclosures of property fled by candidates at
the stoking of inter-group violence. But a substantive the time of their nofinations is anything to go by,
question here would be about whether elections offer our legislatures are dominated by the super-rich
an opportunity for changing and challenging the (Association for Democratic Reforms).
entrenched elites. If so, the potential for disturbing Finally, do elections provide a forum for citizens
hierarchical structures can in itself be seen as an control over public policy?,In a limited and direct
outcome of electoral politics. This brings us face to face sense they do: a whole host of populist schemes
with simultaneous advance and retreat in the
political announced during every election testify to the need
representation of the lower social order. There is no to respond to public demand. As the survival rate of
doubt that the post-Mandal era in our polity has led to
govemments has become respectable, this had led to
some improvement in the presence of
landowning or a serious competition among state govemments to
otherwise numerically large Other Backward Classes respond to people's needs such as electricity, water,
(OBC) communities in the Hindi heartland states. and roads, things which the state has the capacity to
Even though the quantum of
change is much smaller deliver in a direct and visible manner. At the same
thah is popularly believed and the legislatures continue
time, electoral politics is still characterized by a lack of
to massively over-represent the forward castes, thefe delivery, accountability, and responsiveness. Short
is a qualitative change in the political dynamics as
term interests are the only ones which can be realized,
the momentum has shifted away from the hitherto survival becomes the
as only govenment imperative.
dominant communities Jayal 2006). There is a strong tendency towards populism, rather
Yet this advancement comes with built-in than substantive politics so as to deliver
long-term
stagnation and retreat. The rise in the political benehts in areas such as health and education.
representation of some backward communities has This is related to the paradoz of co-eristence
not led to a corresponding rise in the representation of democracy and poverty in contemporary India.
of many other communities that would be a part
The majority rules in democracies and should
we
of the lower social order. There is little awareness be surprised if those who (can) rule do not use this
about or willingness to engage with the severe under power toimprove their conditions of life. The paradoz
representation of the lower OBCs or the Most is even deeper in India than in many other societies.
Backward Castes cutting across the north-south Some of the standard reasons why democracies do not
divide.Similarly there is little attention to
equally an care about poverty do not hold true in India
(Bardhan
severe under-representation of the Maha
Dalits 2005; Varshney 2004). One, the institutional
the Dalit communities at the bottom of the SCs. design of Indian democracy (parliamentary system,
The Sachar Committee has served asymmetrical federalism, flexible constitutional
Report to bring
some attention to the gross under-representation of amendment) does not place significant obstacles to
the Muslims in the Parliament and state assemblies, the democratic popular will Two, the party system is
but the issue is yet to acquire the national salience highly competitive with very high electoral volatility
ecessary for any :emedial action (Prime Minister's Three, as noted above, the poor have not opted out
High Level Comm.tee 2006). There is little of democratic politics, at least not from routine
unprovement in the pohtical representation of participation in electoral poltics. Four, unlike some
marginalized social groups like women and the other poor democracies, India is not a fauled state and