Ambush Tales of the Ballot

By Alok Shukla

A book every Indian who values their freedom should read with pride.

This riveting collection of short stories is based on true life incidents. The canvas is the incredible phenomenon that is Indian electoral politics. The success of electoral democracy in a poor, underdeveloped nation which laboured for centuries under foreign rule is nothing less than a miracle.

But seventy years after independence, the teeming millions of India take freedom for granted. The electoral process is as much a part of our lives as inhaling and exhaling. Few know of the enormous challenges the Election Commission faces in conducting free and fair elections even though the Constitution of India guarantees complete autonomy to the Election Commission, so much so that once the electoral process begins, not even the judiciary can interfere with it.

This book takes us behind the scenes, giving us glimpses into the extraordinary challenges faced and overcome by the unsung crew of the Indian electoral story. These are tales of ordinary people – polling staff, security personnel, candidates, journalists, police, and above all, the Indian voter, who have demonstrated extraordinary courage and an inspiring sense of duty in conducting the most complex and difficult elections in the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Point Six Technologies Pvt Ltd
• Release date: Feb 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9789352017126

Alok Shukla

DR ALOK SHUKLA is a surgeon and serving IAS officer. He was educated at Pt. J.N.M. Medical College, Raipur. Following a distinguished academic career, he joined the IAS, serving as Collector at Shivpuri and Sagar, in Madhya Pradesh, and Secretary in the departments of Health, Education, Revenue, Disaster Management and Food. His contributions to elementary education and public health have been highly acclaimed. In recognition of his work in computerising paddy procurement and PDS in Chhattisgarh, he received the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Administration (2010), the highest award given to bureaucrats in India.Between the years 2009-2014, Alok served as Deputy Election Commissioner, seeing at first hand two national and several state elections. With his deep understanding of electoral systems, he served as an International Observer at elections in Egypt, Venezuela and Australia, and led a mission to develop electoral systems in the Maldives.

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INTRODUCTION

While democracy has limped along in other South-Asian countries, it continues to be a resounding success in India. The people of India have demonstrated again and again that they can bring about political change peacefully, like any other mature democracy in the world. The remarkable success of electoral democracy in a poor, underdeveloped nation which laboured under the yoke of foreign rule for centuries, is nothing less than a miracle.

This has been achieved due to an unflinching faith in democratic polity by both the leaders and the people of India. Elected governments lose their legitimacy when elections are not perceived to be free, fair and participative. Hence the founding fathers of the Indian Constitution created an effective, powerful and independent institution to govern elections – the Election Commission (EC). Its autonomy is so complete that once the electoral process has begun, not even the judiciary can interfere with it till the elections are done.

Indians are fortunate that the EC has lived up to the expectations of the people. Over the years it has developed a reputation for being incorruptible and non-partisan. It has thus been a privilege and an honour for me to have served as an officer of the EC for several years.

The EC faces enormous challenges in the conducting of free and fair elections across the length and breadth of this vast land. This book attempts to give the reader a glimpse into some of those challenges, from the perspective of the cast and crew of the Indian electoral story. These are stories about the challenges faced by ordinary people, who showed extraordinary courage and an exemplary sense of duty in the course of conducting some of the most complex and difficult elections in the world.

Though the names have been changed to protect individuals, all the stories in this book are based on real life incidents. Of course the conversations and interactions in the stories, in particular the Commission room transactions, are not real but fictionalised accounts. The stories have been retold to the best of the author’s ability but they essentially belong to the polling staff, security personnel, candidates, journalists, police, and above all, the voters.

LARGEST DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD

The greatest challenge in Indian elections is the sheer size of India. Lauded as the largest democracy in the world, it is nevertheless difficult to imagine just how big ‘largest’ is. Let us consider some numbers to bring home the point.

India has approximately 834 million voters. This is more than all of Europe (450 million) and North America (324 million) combined. It is more than the voters in all North America (324 million) and South America (235 million). It is more than all of Africa (566 million).

Polling took place in over 9 lakh polling stations in 543 parliamentary constituencies in the General Elections held in 2014, wherein 8251 candidates contested, and 464 political parties participated.

But the challenge does not end there. It is not simply the numbers that are daunting but the extremes of geographical diversity as well. Polling stations are set up in some of the toughest geographical locations in the world. The highest polling station in the world is at Phema, Laddakh, at a height of 13800 feet above Mean Sea Level. We also have polling stations in the desert in Rajasthan, where temperatures above 50 degrees Centigrade are common in summer. We have polling stations in the far flung and isolated islands of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. There are polling stations in the mangroves of the Sunderbans and in the dense tropical forests of Madhya Pradesh. There are polling stations catering to over 5000 voters in the metro cities as well as a polling station with just one voter in the middle of the Gir forest in Gujarat.

The EC uses every type of transport, ranging from helicopters to boats to mules and camels, to send polling personnel to the most difficult stations. This book includes a story about how these brave people reach challenging locations through sheer grit and determination.

SOCIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

More challenging than geographical diversity is the socio-cultural diversity of the country. India is probably the only country in the world where electoral rolls and ballot papers are printed in five different languages in certain constituencies, taking into consideration the socio-cultural sensitivities of the diverse populations who constitute the electorate.

The plurality of Indian society presents other challenges as well. Scheduled castes and tribes, minorities and other vulnerable communities need special protection, especially during elections. For this purpose, the EC has developed a tool for vulnerability mapping, using it successfully in many elections. Despite this, there are times when a volatile situation gets out of control, often inflamed by hate speeches by irresponsible politicians; the EC then has to contend with communal violence as well.

In the recent past, the Commission has been most strict in such matters, banning politicians from making hate speeches and sometimes even banning their speeches completely during elections. With growing technology, the challenges in this area have only increased. Social media is often misused to spread fear and hate during elections. The Commission has not succeeded in halting such misuse of social media so far, though it has sought the support of all social media companies to do so. There is a story in the book about the role social media plays in elections.

TERRORISM

India has been the victim of various types of terrorism in recent years. There has, of course, been the terror exported from across the border. However, our home-grown Left Wing terror spots in the central forested tribal areas of the country, and the terrorist organizations of the north-east, are equally dangerous.

These terrorist organizations often call for a boycott of elections and do everything possible to disrupt a peaceful electoral process. Polling parties, security forces and voters face threat to life and limb, yet they still do their jobs and turn out to vote in extremely dangerous conditions – a lesson to terrorist organizations that terror will not stop people from exercising their democratic rights. There is a story in the book about the dangers of terrorist violence faced by security personnel in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas.

The Commission has ordered re-polling whenever it has suspected foul play. In recent years there have been instances of an unholy nexus between candidates and terrorists. The Commission has used re-polling as a strategy in cases of suspected booth capturing, to defeat such nefarious designs. There is a story in the book about a vigilant officer bravely going alone into an LWE area to collect evidence of fake voting so that a re-poll could be ordered by the Commission and the voters were not deprived of exercising their franchise.

Recently, the Commission has also photographed voters to prevent multiple voting. The strategy has been tried in Manipur, with limited success. The book has a story regarding this. Suggestions have been made to use biometric identification at the time of polling to circumvent the menace of multiple voting. However, this too has elements of concern attached to it, chief being vote confidentiality.

CORRUPT PRACTICES By CANDIDATES

There was a time when goondas (thugs) and musclemen attempted to dominate and influence elections. The EC has now been able to more or less control this aberration with phased elections and the deployment of adequate security forces. Elections cannot be free and fair unless candidates and political parties play by the rules. All participants must have faith in the democratic process.

Though there are electoral laws which empower the EC to supervise electioneering and prevent corrupt practices, in actual practice this can only be done with the cooperation of the candidates and political parties. For this purpose, the EC has devised a unique instrument, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), for political parties and candidates. The MCC is not a statute but a gentlemen’s agreement among political parties and candidates to refrain from certain practices during electoral campaigning. All political parties have agreed that the EC shall oversee the implementation of the MCC.

The system has worked well in most cases. There are, of course, instances of candidates and political parties devising ingenious methods to circumvent the spirit of the MCC. There are stories in the book about some of the tricks used by unscrupulous candidates.

There is, of course, the issue of poverty and a lack of any real choice for the poor, though this is not the domain of the EC. The book does have a story about how the poor in our country often have to make compromises in their day-to-day lives.

MISUSE OF MONEY POWER

In recent years the menace and misuse of money power has raised its ugly head in Indian elections. The EC has developed several strategies to stop such misuse. Candidates are required to file affidavits regarding their assets and liabilities, and this information is placed in the public domain. Candidates are also required to maintain a day to day account of expenditure during elections, this too, being available to the general public. Additionally, the EC uses the extensive machinery of police and officials to physically check the movement of money during elections.

It has often been pointed out that such strategies do not, in fact, prevent the misuse of money power in elections but on the contrary, cause harassment to the public. There is story in the book about this.

PAID NEWS

A strong, responsible and impartial media is a pillar of democracy. However, in modern times such codes have been aberrations rather than the norm in the functioning of the media. The phenomenon of paid news during elections is one such instance and strikes at the very roots of democracy. Journalists often complain that they are under pressure from the owners/management of newspapers and TV channels to bring in advertising revenues during elections. This is a disturbing trend. There is a story in the book about the plight of stringers in small towns during elections. It is, however, heartening to note that the issue has been taken head on by certain honest elements in the media.

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES

The EC has used technology to great advantage in efficiently conducting the largest elections in the world. Indian elections are now conducted wholly on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The change of voting systems and the emergence of EVMs in India is an interesting story.

Separate ballot boxes were used for each candidate during the first General