[Reader-list] Democracy and Elections - The J&K Experience

[Zainab Bawa]

Democracy and Elections – Lessons from the J&K Experience

The recent election results in J&K have evoked elation among many people 
including Kashmiris, human rights activists, well-wishers of Kashmir, 
several other people and institutions.  The jubilation is euphoric and to 
everyone, this is the victory of democracy.  Couple of days ago, I was 
attending a meeting on Kashmir where someone very rightly pointed out that 
elections in Kashmir were a means to express dissent and protest against the 
hegemony of the Abdullah clan and National Conference.  But they are by no 
means a solution to the Kashmir problem.  I absolutely agree with this.  The 
question I have on my mind is: “Was democracy a clear victor in these 
elections?”

Last week I had mentioned that the situation in Kashmir gets me to think 
about the deeper meaning of democracy.  Democracy is a lofty term in today’s 
times, a theory and feeling which becomes vibrant only when elections are 
on.  Is democracy only about elections?  When I ask people what is the 
meaning of democracy, the obvious reply is ‘For the people, of the people, 
by the people’.  This definition has become a convenient way to indicate 
that we know enough about democracy.  It is almost suggestive of the fact 
that we have taken democracy for granted and this is what it has become 
today – a slow and a corrupt system!

Let us consider the case of the elections in J&K.  Kashmiri people were very 
angry with National Conference and they wanted to teach it a lesson and 
overthrow it.  They voted for parties like Congress and PDP as alternatives, 
not because they have great love or faith in these parties.  In some 
constituencies where NC won seats, it was because only some cadres of people 
came out to vote and since they were the only ones who voted, obviously NC 
won there.  This is not to take away from the fact that people have also 
voted for candidates who were eligible and who did good work in their 
tenure, including candidates from NC.  The fact also remains that people 
voted for their local candidates and not for candidates who were absentee 
representatives.

I have serious doubts about linking democracy with the electoral system we 
have or for that matter, electoral systems throughout the world.  When India 
attained independence in 1947, Congress was the only majority party.  It 
kept winning elections till such time when there was absolutely no 
opposition.  Yet, in all these times, India was a democracy, with only one 
major party in the Parliament.  What meaning did elections have in such a 
scenario?  Coming down to a closer, personal experience, I was part of an 
organization where a President who would head the organization had to be 
elected every year.  Throughout the history of the organization except on 
one occasion, only one candidate contested elections.  This system continued 
well till such time when there were good Presidents.  Couple of years ago, 
there was a Presidential candidate who was strongly disliked because s/he 
had not done well in his/her tenure.  When s/he contested elections for a 
second term, s/he won unopposed although s/he received only 50% of the 
votes.  Did the dissent then expressed against him/her make any difference 
at all?  If there was no one to stand in opposition to him/her, how did the 
dissatisfaction expressed against him/her make any difference?  In this 
respect, at least the recent elections in Kashmir were better because other 
political parties agreed to participate in them.

The function of democracy actually begins after elections are over.  We 
elect representatives in elections, not rulers.  But this is the culture 
practically all over the world where people elect their representatives and 
forget about them till the next elections are around the corner.  The 
responsibility of development, accountability, etc. is placed completely on 
their shoulders while we, the lesser mortals, will continue with our jobs, 
families, etc.  And then of course, on several occasions, we will sit back 
in our armchairs and criticize them for the corrupt people that they are and 
the corrupt system they have created.  Well, honestly, this one-way traffic 
does not work at all.  It requires responsibility and accountability on the 
part of the elected and the electors to run the system, or else, we are only 
perpetrating autocracy in the form of a redundant democracy.

Zainab Bawa








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