25 January, National Voters Day – Hailing the Great Indian Democracy.

The Miraculously Successful Indian Democracy owes its genesis to the Voters, let us hail them all on the National Voters Day today. Today as we celebrate the 12^th National Voters Day, which is commemorated every year on January 25 – the foundation day of Election Commission of India, which was established on January 25 1950 - to encourage the voters to participate in the electoral process, it is time to look back and commend ourselves – the voters – who have helped make Indian democracy a celebrated global success and may the national voters day help in continuing to keep the Indian democracy thriving with more and more people going out to exercise their all-important voting rights.

The success of the Indian democracy owes its genesis to we the people of India, particularly the main stakeholders of Indian democracy – the electorates, political parties, election commission of India, and everyone else. If we look back in time and see what our status was when we attained our independence, not many would have predicted – including the optimists - that India as a democracy would survive for more than few decades or so. The position in which we were left behind, when we attained our independence, after centuries of colonial rule and exploitation by the British is best articulated, so thought provokingly, by Shashi Tharoor in his famous book “The Era of Darkness –The British Empire in India”. Therefore, it was no wonder that there was no optimism in the future for Indian democracy when we attained independence.  

What the odds were for India succeeding as a thriving democracy, when we attained independence, can best be seen when we juxtapose Indian democracy as a start-up company in 1947. Not even the most adventurous and risk taking venture capitalists would have considered investing in the Indian democracy. More so since there were many dooms day predictions made by the British, an evidence of which can be best seen from the last British commander in chief of the Indian Army, Gen. Claude Auchinleck. He wrote “The Sikhs may try to set up a separate regime. I think they probably will and that will be only a start of a general decentralization and break-up of the idea that India is a country, whereas it is a subcontinent as varied as Europe. The Punjabi is as different from a Madrassi as a Scot is from an Italian. The British tried to consolidate it but achieved nothing permanent. No one can make a nation out of a continent of many nations.”

 

Gen. Claude Auchinleck was not the sole voice to make such dooms day prediction for India, which was a nation within nations with as many as 565 princely states and many more divisions when we attained Independence. Helped by Sardar Patel India was united to carve out its geographical and political map that we see today. Dooms day predictions for India and Indian democracy were dime a dozen in the early years of independence. India could not survive as a single nation, was one common observations by most western observers, let alone becoming a successful democracy. One of the former British official, who witnessed the first general elections in India in 1952 wrote “a future and more enlightened age will view with astonishment the absurd farce of recording the votes of millions of illiterate people.” From such negativity and dooms day predictions, Indian democracy has passed through periods of trials and tribulations to emerge triumphant and today when India is commemorating the 12^th National Voters Day, while commending ourselves and patting us on our back, we must resolve to spread the message of the importance of voting in a democracy and each of us must go out to exercise our democratic rights without fear or favour.

The forthcoming state elections including the elections in the most important state of Uttar Pradesh and that too during the Covid times is a time for us to pay respect to the people’s mandate and hail the electorates, the Election Commission and its paraphernalia that include the faceless hundreds of thousands of foot soldiers of the Election Commission who work tirelessly making the Himalayan task of conducting the elections in India a grand success, time after time and election after elections. Democracy in India has gained from strength to strength and has made much progress over the decades. When we attained independence and declared ourselves Republic in 1950, our erstwhile rulers the British and the rest of the world were highly cynical about our survival, let alone our democracy. From the first elections in 1951-52 to the 17th general elections held in 2019, we have come a long way and our democracy has grown from strength and the world now treats Indian democracy as a triumphant role model. Let us cherish this.

The continuing success of the Indian democracy is borne out from the statement made by our former President Dr Pranab Mukherjee, who praised the voters and the Election Commission for conducting the 17th Lok Sabha polls in a “perfect” manner. He went on to say “If we want to strengthen institutions, we have to keep in mind that institutions are serving well in this country, and if democracy has succeeded, it’s largely due to the perfect conduct of elections by all Election Commissioners starting from Sukumar Sen to the present Election Commissioners”. So irrespective of who wins the coming state elections, we must all collectively respect the result as a true mandate of the voters, who must go in large numbers to exercise their voting rights.

Ever since the era of TN Seshan, in the early 1990s, the EC, like the Indian Army, has arguably become our most respected institution. The respectability of the EC can further be appreciated when we realise that the EC has helped several other nations run their elections better. EVMs have played a significant role in this transition, which has seen a drastic reduction in voting malpractices.

Central to the beauty and vibrancy of the Indian democracy are the Indian electorates - the rich and mighty, the powerful and powerless, the poor and the insignificant, the lettered and unlettered, sheltered and unsheltered, the males, females and the trans gender’s, the believers and non-believers, Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, religious and non-religious, young, middle aged, old and the very old - all standing as equals, each rubbing shoulders with one another, in the true spirit of equality and humanity first, who make our democracy thrive. While we celebrate the National Voters day today, let us reemphasise the significance of voters for the success of the Indian democracy.

A look back on the percentage of voters who exercised their franchise during the general elections reveal that in the very first general elections conducted in 1952, India recorded an impressive 61.2% of votes and this number continued to be quite impressive hovering around 60% or so (62.2% in 1957, 55.42 in 1962, 61.33 in 1967, 55.29 in 1971, 60.49 in 1977, 56.92 in 1980, 63.56 in 1984, 61.95 in 1989, 56.93 in 1991, 57.94 in 1996, 61.97 in 1998, 59.99 in 1999). The voting percentage fell abruptly to below 50% for the first time in the fourteenth general election held in 2004, to 48.74%.  This was the time when it was realised that efforts are needed to create an awareness among visitors about the importance of voting.  

The first-ever National Voters’ Day was celebrated on January 25, 2011, to encourage more young voters to take part in the electoral process. The then Union government, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved a proposal of the law ministry to declare a National Voters Day. The then information and broadcasting minister, Ms. Ambika Soni pointed observed that new voters, who attained the age of 18, were showing less interest in getting enrolled in the electoral rolls. To address this issue, the Election Commission decided to launch a nationwide effort to identify all eligible voters who reach the age of 18 on January 1 of each year in all polling stations across India. All such new voters were to be enrolled and given the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) on January 25 every year.

 

The National Voters Day seem to have had some positive impact. The 16^th general election held in 2014 witnessed 66.40% voting and in the 19^th general election, held in 2019, the voting percentage witnessed a record 66.40%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections. The theme for this year’s National Voters' Day is ‘Making Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative’. I earnestly hope that the National Voters day helps in continuing to increase voter’s participation in the Indian democracy.

 Jai Hind, Jai Indian Democracy and Jai Indian Voters.