Frequent elections have made the manifestos redundant. They have now become an exercise in futility, although they were never taken seriously by most people. The general impression is that manifestos are merely for discussions and debates of some elites, who claim to be intellectuals but hardly have any say in the decision-making process of political parties or the electorates because elections are mostly held on the castes and religious considerations. For example, Muslims except for a group of Shias, never vote for the BJP irrespective of its highly promising manifestos. More or less the same is the case with Christians. Manifestos are, therefore, meaningless for them because their only agenda is to defeat the BJP.
Look at the schemes of the BJP governments, which have been benefitting all sections of society regardless of their castes or communities and yet they are clear-headed that they would go for any candidate, who can defeat the BJP. In some places, certain castes of Hindus also vote for a specific party, even if the candidates fielded by it are unworthy of contesting any election. Hence, the manifesto is of no use to them. Unemployment and inflation are the issues that are raised only against a particular party i.e., the BJP but all other works done by it are conveniently overlooked.
The elections are no longer once in the five years affair, they are held around the year in some or other part of the country. Almost every year some or other assemblies are in election mode giving little time to the parties to strictly adhere to their manifestos. Winning elections, somehow or other, therefore, becomes their agenda. In the process, these parties instead of sticking to their manifestos make tall promises to their electorates, which can give them immediate gains.
This keeps the Election Commission and other state machinery busy with poll activities rather than doing other normal work. The ultimate loser is thus the general public. Therefore, the good thing will be to hold the elections of parliament and other assemblies simultaneously, after five years, which is what has been contemplated in 83(2) for the Parliament and 172(1) for the state assemblies under the Indian constitution. The Rajya Sabha and the Vidhan Parishads are never dissolved because one-third of their members retire every two years after completing six years term.
There have been no problems because the Elections for assemblies and the Lok Sabha used to be held simultaneously until 1967 when in many states voters threw up hung assemblies. Similarly, mid-term polls were also held for the Lok Sabha disturbing the set schedules for holding the elections once in five years. Frequent elections allow the political parties and their leaders to give wide berth to the promises made in their manifestos. This is the reason that many irresponsible politicians make such wild promises as cannot be translated into reality, but their real intent is to come to power anyhow.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to go to the old days and make such laws that come what may, there would not be mid-term polls of the assemblies and they would be held simultaneously throughout the country. If no party gets an absolute majority, then President’s Rule automatically gets imposed till the absolute majority is cobbled by any leader or party. Therefore, there would not be any problem in the states, but the problem would arise at the national level because there is no constitutional provision for President’s Rule at the Centre. This is a very complex and knotty problem, which will need the collective wisdom of all stakeholders to solve it. Since it is a problem of the entire country, so it is not difficult to get all the stakeholders on board for finding an acceptable solution.
Thus, it is amply clear that manifestos are inextricably linked to elections. If any party is given time to be in power continuously for five years, it will be accountable to the public and will be cautious enough in making promises. However, if the political parties are not sure of getting a majority they will continue to play with the emotions of the electorates. They will adopt the policy of appeasement by giving a complete go-by to the interests, progress and welfare of the people and the state. Therefore, hopefully, politicians of all hues and colours, the Election Commission of India and the Judiciary will have to apply their minds to ensure that Constitutional mandates are not defeated and allowed to go haywire.
Parliament and Assembly Elections must be held Simultaneously
feel free to email us [email protected]
-
Supreme Court Stays Eviction of Forest Dwellers
Parmanand Pandey, , Miscellaneous, 0
The Supreme Court has stayed its own order of 13th own order of evicting lakhs of dwellers living on...
-
Law to Weed out Touts is Inadequate and Needs to be Done More
Parmanand Pandey, , Miscellaneous, 0
The presence of touts is ubiquitous in any court, be it district, High Court or even the Supreme Court....
-
O God; Forgive Justice Katju
Parmanand Pandey, , Miscellaneous, 0
Press Council of India’s Chairman Justice (retired.) Markandey Katju is, undoubtedly, an erudite and scholarly person. He has thorough...
-
No Tears Should be Shed for Wily Wolves of NDTV
Parmanand Pandey, , Miscellaneous, 0
One often wonders that why there is so much brouhaha by a section of pseudo-intellectuals over the sale of...
-
Setting Time-limit for Arguments by Loquacious Lawyers is a Praiseworthy Move
Parmanand Pandey, , Miscellaneous, 0
What should have been done long back is being done now by the Supreme Court of India. Anyway, it...
-
Media has Failed to Put Forth the Transformational Changes in India
Parmanand Pandey, , Miscellaneous, 0
The amount of work that Narendra Modi has done in the last five years is mind-boggling and unimaginable for...
-
Not Sedition Law but its Misuse be Stopped
Parmanand Pandey, , Miscellaneous, 0
It is an oft-repeated statement that the Supreme Court of India is Supreme, not because it is infallible but...
-
Life in the Time of Corona and After
Parmanand Pandey, , Miscellaneous, 0
Today one young man, who was standing ahead of me at the ‘Safal’, which is the retail network of...
Categories
Recent Posts
- The conduct of Kejriwal and AAP Leaders is Repulsive and Lowest of the Low
- Comical Behaviour of Arvind Kejriwal
- Karpoori Thakur Fired with Casteism than Idealism. His Personal Honesty was Above the Board
- One Nation, One Election will save the Money of the Exchequer
- A book on spiritualism worthy to be chewed and digested
Recent Comments
- נערות ליווי on Arun Shouri’s Latest Tome is Worthless Through and Through
- Jeromeuters on Padma Vibhushan to late Radhey Shyam Khemka: A Well-Deserved Tribute to a Saintly Editor
- Robertweple2145 on Digitalisation of Currency will Revolutionise the Money Circulation
- Victornem45678 on Live-Streaming is the Best Substitute To Open Court Hearing
- Isacwaync on Kudos to ‘Voice of Lucknow’ and its Editor for Protecting the jobs and Salaries of Journalists
Archives
- April 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- October 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- May 2016
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- July 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- July 2012
- June 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- September 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- June 2010
- March 2010
- January 2010
- October 2009
- September 2009
- July 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- December 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008