Regulation of Intra-Political Party Democracy for Electoral Reforms in India: a Study of Emerging Problems and Issues
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REGULATION OF INTRA-POLITICAL PARTY DEMOCRACY FOR ELECTORAL REFORMS IN INDIA: A STUDY OF EMERGING PROBLEMS AND ISSUES VIRENDER SINGH SINDHU Assistant Professor ( Law), M.D.University , Rohtak The aim of the research paper is to examine the status of intra-party democracy in the political parties of India and, if required, develop a regulatory framework about how political parties can be made more democratic, inclusive and egalitarian. The research also expands its study on the effect of such inclusiveness in political parties on electoral reforms in India. If democracy and accountability constitute the core of our constitutional system, the same concepts must also apply to and bind the political parties which are integral to parliamentary democracy. It is the political parties that form the government, man the Parliament and run the governance of the country. It is, therefore, necessary to introduce internal democracy, financial transparency and accountability in the working of the political parties. A political party which does not respect democratic principles in its internal working cannot be exposed to respect those principles in the governance of the country. It can not be dictatorship internally and democratic in its function outside. Irrespective of the many ways in which intra-party democracy can be institutionalized, some fundamental questions remain: to what extent, how and in which aspects of party life can members practically control what their party does. This study focuses on two observable parameters to assess the institutionalization of intra party democracy: the nomination of candidates for contesting elections and the election of leadership and office bearers. RESEARCH CONTEXT ordinary citizens to government, benefiting the parties that adopt it and more generally Political Parties are the pivots of democratic forms of contributing to the stability and legitimacy of the government. In his seminal work, Party Government, democracies in which these parties compete for power Elmer Eric Schattschneider concluded: “Parties are (Scarrow, 2005). Second, it plays an important not merely appendages of government; they are role in bringing in competition, participation and the centre of it and play a determinative and representation inside the party. Democracy within creative role in it” (Scattschneider, 1942). Political parties helps party members to hold leaders scientists have since then continued to identify parties accountable and engage in policy decision processes as keyinstitutions in a representative democracy, meaningfully. Third, in recent decades, there has highlighting their roles in the integration of citizens, been an apparent decline in party membership, to recruitment of candidates, providing linkages between which significant academic attention has been paid. government and civil society, formulation of public This decline reflects citizen dissatisfaction with the policy, the organisation of legislatures and the parties that are seen as overly hierarchical and not structuring of election campaigns (Cross and Katz, providing their members opportunities to influence 2013). Political parties are also different from other decision-making. Implementation of intra-party social and political organisations by virtue of their democracy by parties can also help them combat fundamental role of striving for public office (Sartori, declining membership and provide incentives to 1976). The political party is the one agency that can members (Cross and Katz, 2013). claim to have as its very raison d’être, the creation of an entire linkage chain, a chain of connections that India has a unique heterogeneous and fragmented runs from the voters through the candidates and the economic, social and political milieu. It is the largest electoral process to the officials of government representative democracy in the world where (Lawson and Merkl, 1988). voters directly elect 543 Members of Parliament (MP), who represent them in the Lok Sabha, or the Given the important functions that parties play in a Lower House of Parliament, and act as the crucial link democracy, concerns have been raised about the ways between the electorate and the government. in which they discharge these functions. If Any Indian citizen can contest elections provided democracy cannot flourish in a country without he/she fulfils the basic criteria set by the political parties, the inevitable question arises if Constitution of India. Allegiance to a political party parties themselves are internally democratic with is not mandatory; thousands of candidates contest respect to their own decision-making practices and elections as “independents”. However, figures show distributions of authority and influence (Cross and that independent candidates rarely win Katz, 2013). It is crucial to conduct research on parliamentary elections and party nomination is intra-party democracy for three main reasons. critical for a candidate’s success. Each candidate First, implementation of intra-party democracy has contests from a particular constituency (a the potential to promote a ‘virtuous circle’ linking geographical area set by statutory provisions) and Proceedings of The IIER International Conference, Port Louis, Mauritius, 18th-19th August 2017 1 Regulation of Intra-Political Party Democracy for Electoral Reforms in India: A Study of Emerging Problems and Issues. in case he/she wins, represents the constituency in hold true to its aspirations of political equality Parliament. Political parties have become closed enshrined in the preamble to the Indian Constitution autocratic and dynastic structures; there are huge only if a son or daughter of a farmer in village entry barriers for the common man, there is poor competes in elections with the son or daughter of a representation of women in Indian politics, there leader with the same initial advantage and the result isincreasing fragmentation of parties, and there is decided by their talent. This country is being growing criminalisation and abuse of financial power deprived of political talent because of these in elections. To an extent, the roots of these problems dynasties and money bags which capture a huge can be traced to the lack of intra-party democracy in initial advantage which is almost impossible to Indian political parties (Mehta, 2001). circumvent. In Lok Sabha 2004 elections, 20 per cent of the MPs Women’s political participation in India since the first elected boasted of at least one direct family Lok Sabha elections in 1951 has increased only very connection in politics; this figure rose to 29 per cent gradually. This can be attributed in part to the in Lok Sabha 2009 elections (Vaishnav, 2014). reluctance of political parties to nominate higher Patrick French in his book India: A Portrait has numbers of women to contest elections. In the 2014 presented an extensive analysis of dynastic politics Lok Sabha elections, out of8,251 candidates, 668 in India. All MPs below 30 years of age in the Lok were women. In the 2009 elections, of the 8,070 Sabha 2009 were from political families. contesting candidates, only 556 were women. The Additionally, all 11 Congress MPs below the age of figure was still lower in 2004 with only 355 in the 35 years were hereditary MPs (French, 2013). In the fray. It may seem that the number of women run up to Lok Sabha 2014 elections, dynasty was candidates increased between 2004 and 2009 but again at the forefront with senior party leaders the overall proportion of women candidates fielding their sons, daughters and nephews as the remained almost the same, as the total number of succession plans for “family” constituencies were candidates in 2009 elections was also larger than in being put in place. To illustrate, P. Chidambaram’s the 2004 elections. Furthermore, the proportion of son Karti P. Chidambaram was the obvious choice women running as independent candidates increased for Sivaganga constituency. Jayant Sinha, to 37 per cent in 2009 as compared to 33 per cent in Yashwant Sinha’s son, contested from his 2004. This meant that the number of women constituency in Hazaribagh on a BJP ticket and candidates who were nominated by political parties in Geetha Shivarajakumar, daughter of the late S 2009 actually declined from 67 per cent in 2004 to 63 Banagarappa, contested on a JD(S) ticket in per cent in 2009 (Spary, 2014). As was the case in Shimoga, Karnataka. The son of Chhattisgarh’s Chief 2004, none of the women independent candidates won Minister, Raman Singh, contested on a BJP ticket elections in 2009. Fragmentation of the parties and from Rajnandgaon; Chirag Paswan, son of LJP multi-party governments has been on rise in India in party’s Ram Vilas Paswan, contested from Jamui, the past few decades. Since 1996, India has had Bihar and Sushmita Dev, daughter of the late among the world’s largest multiparty coalition Santosh Mohan Dev, seven times Member of governments comprising seven to 12 parties, not Parliament, contested from Silchar, Assam. There are counting alliances with parties that provide only many more examples like these all over India external support both before and after elections. There involving all political parties. has been a proliferation of candidates and parties in elections. Since 1969, the INC has had five major Recently a news item titled ‘RJD serves show-cause splits further creating numerous parties. The INC, notice on Pappu Yadav’ appeared in ‘The Hindu’ on one of the two biggest parties in India, has vested its 23-04-2015. Quoting the controversial statement top leadership within one family for most part of the made by RJD chief from the news item “Pappu six decades since Independence. The Janata Party, Yadav is not my son. In Indian culture, only a son into which the Jan Sangh, the forerunner of the BJP, succeeds his father. After me, my son will succeed me was merged, has spawned over the years two dozen in the RJD instead of Pappu Yadav. If anyone has a different parties (Research Foundation for problem with this idea, he or she is free to leave the Governance in India, 2010).