A ritual sans sanctity
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: June 02 2015 -
Political critics over the years have held the view that any electoral exercise as we know today, especially in a multi-party system like India, indicates the “mechanics” rather than the “substance” of representative democracy.
The observation seems to be even more valid in India than anywhere else given the emphasis attached to the necessity of proving that democracy sprouts with the unmistakeable endorsement of the electorate who have exercised their franchise.
Over the years and since India’s general election in 1951–52, modern electoral exercise has undergone tremendous changes.
Beginning with parliamentary elections, India has also perfected the art of organising elections for the legislative assemblies and local body polls.
However, the exercise has also drawn critical appraisal from those who had chosen to analyse the electoral process from the perspective of “ritual performance” rather than application of political perspectives.
Besides finding analogical affinity, anthropological understanding of the ritual of elections, has also been able to trace the increasing distortion of the “democratic ritual”.
It seems the more we make attempts to improve the systems, vested interests have always found ways and means to not only distort the system but also dismantle the “mechanics” itself denting the “substance” of what has been understood as representative democracy.
The experience of Northeastern States of India with electoral exercise as well as politics is not new.
However, the pressures of winning an electoral battle always have their ways of distorting any given situation.
This does not mean the exercise has been rendered toothless despite the fact that the electorate have developed a kind of indifference towards the system of electing their best leaders.
The absurdity of the “democratic ritual” is the way how official record show massive turnouts often indicating the triumph of the “mechanics”.
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