RK Nagar has sung a threnody to the hope that electoral politics in the country were, perhaps, headed for reformation. With the Election Commission cancelling by-poll to the Assembly seat that fell vacant following the demise of former AIADMK supremo and chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa, a timeout has been called in the slugfest for political supremacy.
Demonetisation of currency and the resulting push for digital economy was touted as a means and so expected to rid electoral politics of the malpractice of buying votes. But RK Nagar by-poll campaign appears to be proof that in the absence of cash, parties could also use digital means to make payments for votes and keep the tradition alive.
The Election Commission has cited a list of allegations that, among other things, points to the spread of electoral misconduct to digital platforms as well. One allegation is that mobile wallets were used to transfer money. Prospective voters have apparently also received allurements in the form of phone recharge coupons, newspaper subscriptions and milk tokens.
The authorities have also apparently uncovered a plan for distribution of Rs89 crore among people; the plan is said to involve the likes of Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, who is believed to be working for the faction supportive of VK Sasikala.
Even the likes of Chief Minister E Palaniswami, Forest Minister Dindigul Sreenivasan and Finance Minister Jayakumar are believed to be involved in the acts going by the official accounts. The official version is that the chief minister alone was tasked with distributing Rs13.27 crore to 33,000 voters. It is a shameful state of affairs if the allegations are true.
However, one perplexing aspect in the way things have played out is that there is little or no mention of any malpractice by the other parties in the fray. Given the fact that cancelled by-elections in the past to Assembly constituencies such as Aravakurichi and Thanjavur have witnessed electoral malpractice by both sides, the seeming absence of the same now from other parties in fray — although quite welcome — is conspicuous.
In the present context, it is being made out that the Sasikala faction of AIADMK is keener than the others on winning the seat for her nephew TTV Dinakaran, whom she had appointed as deputy general secretary of the party before going to prison in February.
While electoral malpractice cannot be condoned in any form, misuse of power, too, should be kept at bay with equal rigour. That allegations of malpractice are heaping up chiefly on one side provides room for doubt and disbelief. What is being shown as happening could be a decoy meant to divert attention or to bide for more time.
The Election Commission, itself under a shroud, should not fall prey to the political machinations of either side and must ensure that it does not become a puppet in the hands of any one interest. It is important that electoral malpractice such as distribution of cash or other such freebies to attract voters be discouraged in the interests of a better democracy.
Voters may themselves have to bear the burden of rooting out the menace rather than waiting for the official machinery to act on their behalf. The official machinery, in this instance the Election Commission, has a lot of clean up to do of its own stables.
