As India Awaits the Verdict

A N Kaul Sahib  

Two thirds of India's vast electorate of 714 million voters having sealed in the EVMs the fate of candidates contesting elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in the three rounds gone by at the time of our going to press. the scene is hotting up with wild speculations on who eventually occupies the coveted throne at the Centre. With the conclusion of two remaining rounds slated for May 7 and 13, the biggest election exercise in the world's largest democracy would come to a close. Making foolproof arrangements for such a huge exercise to ensure a free and fair poll, was indeed a formidable challenge for the Election Commission. Barring sporadic but deadly strikes by Naxal and Maoist insurgents in a few vulnerable States with the purpose of obstructing the poll process, the elections went off, by and large, in a peaceful manner. In the absence of any exit or opinion polls, barred by the Election Commission this time on, it is difficult for anyone to predict even a near correct guess as to which party or combination of parties will reach the magic figure of 272 to make a claim on government formation. All sorts of claims and counter claims are now being made not only by the principal political formations but also by regional and local outfits and their satraps and the so-called third and fourth fronts. All the leading players are trying to spread their nets wide to grab as many Netas or groups wavering on the sidelines, to explore the possibilities of cobbling together a formation to lean upon. The actual position will however, be clear only after May 16, when the results start trickling in and the numbers game begins. Till then we have to keep our fingers crossed. We can only hope and pray that India gets a strong and stable government which can take the country forward in all directions and combat tough challenges like insulating the country from the aftermath of the growing turmoil in our neighbouring countries viz., Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, combating terrorism, continuing economic slowdown, rising prices, unemployment, poverty, criminalization of politics, and mounting corruption.As India votes and awaits the verdict, it is s shocking that a sizeable section of the politically conscious and highly literate community of Kashmiri Pandits should be deprived of their legitimate democratic rights by the Election Commission by deleting their names from the voters lists, a process that has been going on in an indiscreet yet systematic manner in the J&K State for the last two decades, after the forced exodus of the community from their land of birth. As a result, the number of KP voters in the State is said to have come down to a trickle. Repeated pleas to the Election Commission to ensure cent percent enrolment of eligible voters, dispensing with the obnoxious M-forms and issuance of election photo identity cards to the community members have drawn a blank. This despite a high level delegation of JK Nationalist Movement, led by Dr. K. N. Pandita, a respected social activist and political analyst having called on the full Election Commission in New Delhi last month for a detailed discussion on the matter, and the Commission promising to consider the memorandum containing the demands. And, when the JKNM organized a peaceful protest demonstration at Jammu against the total apathy of the Election Commission to their legitimate democratic rights, what they got in response was an unprovoked cane charge and arrests of four young demonstrators pleading for restoration of voting rights to the community. It is indeed ironic that while certain sections of the people in the Valley who are organizing violent protests day in and day out to boycott elections to Lok Sabha and shout anti-India and pro-separatist slogans are being treated with kid gloves, Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu asking for the right to participate in the on going democratic process in the country are subjected to such discriminatory and humiliating treatment. That the Election Commission has failed to respond in time to the representations made by the KP community for setting the records straight insofar as the irregularities in the voters' lists are concerned leads one to doubt the impartiality and fairness with which the Election Commission is expected to conduct itself all over the country. We hope the authorities that be are listening.

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Courtesy: 1st May, 2009, Naad