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The Miracle of Democracy—India’s Amazing Journey The Indian democracy’s strength was reinforced when the public discontent led to the Congress Party’s rout in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections. The writer, a former Chief Election Commissioner, aptly says: “Both optimism and cynicism about Indian democracy continue to survive, thereby constituting the miracle of democracy.” Krishnamurthy has had a ringside view of the electoral scene in India, first as a member of the Election Commission, and later as Chief Election Commissioner for managing the momentous general elections in 2004, which once again provided ample evidence of our vigorous pursuit of democratic governance. Prior to his elevation to the Election Commission, he had been credited with a distinguished record of civil service in the Income Tax Department, the Ministry of Finance and finally in the Department of Company Affairs. He is, perhaps, one of the most competent exponents of India’s progress towards a truly liberal democracy. In his own words, his endeavour is “to study and portray the glorious past, fragile present and uncertain future of our democracy”. The book is divided into three main sections, the first three laying the foundation for a detailed examination of the electoral system and in the next four chapters, followed by the last three chapters, delineating a roadmap for electoral and governance reforms to address the glaring inequities and inequalities inconsistent with a liberal democracy. The writer devotes considerable attention to the civil servants’ role. He has severely indicted the politician-bureaucrat nexus during the electoral process and has emphasised that the neutrality of the politicians and the civil servants is as important as the Election Commission’s neutrality. Having examined the dominant features of the election system, political parties and electoral process for the Centre and states, he says the first-past-the-post system combined with universal franchise, and the proliferation of political parties has had adverse consequences for representational legitimacy. He has called for a review of the system so that the representatives are elected in a more democratic way. The Election Commission has evolved into a highly independent and credible constitutional authority. However, the writer laments that several suggestions made by it for strengthening the CEC’s role have not been implemented by the government. In this context, Krishnamurthy seems to favour the concept of parity in the procedure for the removal of the CEC and other members of the Commission. While the CEC can be removed only by impeachment in Parliament, the President can remove the other members on the CEC’s recommendation, he says. The state Election Commissioners lack the CEC’s independence and authority. Thus, questions have been raised about their neutrality. There is need to deepen democracy at the level of the local institutions such as municipal corporations and village panchayats. The most crucial chapter deals with the political parties—“the weakest link” in the democratic process. The political parties do not find any direct mention in the Constitution. The absence of legislation governing the formation and functioning of the political parties has been an obstacle in the settlement of electoral disputes by the Election Commission. The writer voices concern about the proliferation and fragmentation of political parties. He has also commented upon frequent violations of the Election Commission’s model code of conduct during the polling period and the lack of justification in the MPLAD scheme in which more than Rs 15 billion is being doled out by Parliament. Summing up his observations, Krishnamurthy says the inadequacies in the working of the political parties seem to be primarily due to lack of education, authoritarian leadership, increasing money and muscle power, rapid democratisation without social and economic equality, the tendency towards populism and lack of responsible public administration. He has recommended the legislative route to improving the functioning of the parties as recommended by the Justice Venkatachaliah Committee. In addition to legislative imperatives, healthy conventions need to be followed by the parties voluntarily, he says. This book is a must-read for all those who are keen observers of the contemporary scene of Indian democratic governance. The writer deserves credit for bringing to the fore some of the burning issues confronting us all. The writer, an economic consultant, is a former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
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IN the second half of the 20th century, the political history of the world came to be dominated by the march of democracy despite occasional setbacks here and there. However, ever since 1952, the Indian Republic, the world’s largest democracy, has consistently maintained the tradition of elected governments with adult franchise despite linguistic, cultural, religious and regional diversity of the federal states.