2024 General Elections in Bharat: How it matters?

We are in election season and every drawing room in the country is talking about the Modi success formula and the progress Bharat has made during the last 10 years. Whichever party you are going to click on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), come election day in your city, the probability that life has improved in the last 10 years for you and your family is quite strong.

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For any healthy democracy, not only a strong visionary leader is required but institutional checks and balances are also a must. An effective and lively Opposition, transparent Election Commission, Independent Judiciary and impartial Media are important cornerstones of democracy. Add to that list, the Fifth Estate being free Social Media which is the preferred tool for the youth, whistle blowers, citizen journalists and free speech advocates. We have always grown up listening to our elders saying that un-bridled power is a dangerous thing. In case these cornerstones are not operating as per the spirit of the Constitution problems may arise. Globally with power getting concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, one is increasingly wary of the narrative of what one reads, sees and hears.

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The biggest issue that an ordinary citizen has with taking up a political role, has been the tarnished image of politicians being corrupt as an inevitable part of election funding process. The list of electoral bonds obtained by the Supreme Court of India from the State Bank of India, which has been put in the public domain by the Election Commission makes for interesting reading. A lot of investigative journalists are working with data scientists to make sense of the large data where it appears a lot of the donors of the electoral bonds were in some investigation by the agencies (ED or Income tax). Both Central and State parties have received donation via electoral bonds from such dubious donors. ?

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Building a culture for a transparent society is something that civil society must strive for. The positives of choice can be only adopted if awareness of all the pros and cons are transparently put before you. Local issues, State issues and National issues all get muddled in the psychology of the voter when he or she goes to vote. The Kovind Committee Report on Simultaneous Elections in India has been recently submitted to the President of India which advocates a two step process- the first is integration of State and National Elections and the second is the integration of Local elections, using the same electoral list. Another issue which is vexing, is the issue of vote for Party versus vote for Candidate. Many regional parties have strong candidates in some regions but may at best be relegated as a junior Minster of the ruling coalition government. Meritocrity may be sacrificed at the altar of party politics. ?

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A trend which is to be encouraged, has been the increasing participation of women voters in India. Not only are women exercising their vote in larger numbers, but most of them are voting independently of their family or husbands choice of candidate/ party.

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Another trend which needs more support is simplifying regulations to plain English and re-evaluating the need for more Regulators. For eg. breaking down archaic taxi regulations led the birth of startup success called Uber and similarly tearing down complicated bed and breakfast regulations led to easy access for consumers thru the startup Airbnb. There are multiple hidden Unicorns in Bharat based upon simplifying the regulations thru technology use cases. In the accounting field for instance, the Hon’ ble Prime Minister has put the target of a having an Indian global accounting firm, not only the Big4 American Accounting firms before us in 2017 but the simplification of regulations to make this a reality is needed. Specifically marketing, access to capital from investors and multiplicity of regulators remain major hurdles with present regulations which need to be freed to ensure technology scale up is possible.

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Good governance in society, like in companies requires hard working dedicated persons at the helm but also requires the system to work tirelessly to produce value addition for all, using latest technology, performance evaluation and transparent feedback system to prevent persons from falling out of line. The general elections is the biggest feedback system in a democracy where we as citizens are telling our leaders what is important to us and which areas require more work to be done.

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The dates of 19 April to June 1 2024 have been declared for General Elections to elect 543 members of the 18th Lok Sabha across seven phases and I hope that all of you will participate in great numbers to ensure come 4 June 2024 you find a voice in the feedback that you gave as electorate

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Jai Hind!