Nirvik Bureau, Bhubaneswar, 10 June 2024
The political parties in India, including the national parties, are known more for the lack of democracy in their functioning. Those who carry the responsibility of nurturing and strengthening democracy, are the worst advertisement for it.
It has always been like this but things worsened with every passing decade. Powerful and charismatic leaders of political parties always controlled and manipulated their parties to suit their interests. This deviant behaviour was usually overlooked because the parties won elections under such powerful leaders. We have seen this with the big parties like the Congress, and the BJP, and also with small and regional parties like AAP, DMK, SP, BJD, TMC, etc. One supreme leader and his/her family members dominate the party and its decisions.
Things have come to such a pass now that any well meaning politician trying to serve the country and the citizens feels suffocated in such parties. There is no scope of fair treatment or no consideration of his abilities to perform. Such politicians are better off working independently and contesting elections as independent candidates.
Compare this situation with countries like USA where inner-party democracy is top notch. All party affairs are conducted in accordance with the rules that govern the parties. Even selection of candidates is done democratically with every interested member of the party getting a fair chance to bag the party nomination for any post. The system of primaries is the finest example of inner-party democracy in USA.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) could take baby steps in the direction of improving democracy within parties by ensuring that all registered political parties adhere to their own constitution. It should also be mandated that any deviation from this by any political party should be documented and reported to the ECI. Political parties should also be required to document the process of selection of candidates for Assembly and General elections and adhere to that process scrupulously.
