Power & Politics / Mail Today, May 4, 2009

VOTERS in 369 constituencies have already decided on their next MPs and while the winners will be known on May 16, there is one clear early winner: voter apathy. How ironical that those who believed that voting was someone else’s problem are the ones who are shedding tears over the low voting percentage.
Across the country, half the registered voters failed to show up at the polling booths. Even the choreographed appeal by the glamour crowd failed to enthuse their own blood group in a city like Mumbai where voting was at its lowest ever. The rich and the mighty and the bold and the not- so- beautiful have been leading the attack on “ dirty politicians” ever since that dreadful Wednesday night in Mumbai in late November. This time too, they arrived at polling booths, leashed Boxers or German Shepherds in tow, cast their votes and displayed their middle left finger to eager TV cameras.

Yet they could not get their friends, relatives or fans to brave the summer heat. City after city and village after village turned its back on the politicians. The high profile campaigns by the Gandhi Parivar seemed to have had little effect on voters in Amethi and Rae Bareily who stayed away in large numbers. Never before has the Great India Election pageant been so listless. Now there are as many excuses for the low polling in each constituency as there are candidates.
Despite the hundreds of aircraft and helicopters at their disposal, the leaders of six national and 40 odd state parties were not able to mobilise and motivate even their own workers. I didn’t cover this election as extensively as I have done earlier ones but after brief visits to Lucknow, Mumbai and Ahmedabad during the past two weeks, it left me with the feeling that the fault lay with the parties themselves. Committed workers have been replaced by hired hands. Local leaders with tremendous grassroots networking skills were ignored by the national leaders and parties who have outsourced their campaigns to advertising and marketing agencies which work for multiple clients and whose main objective is not winning elections but showing healthy balance sheets.

As a result, party workers feel betrayed and left out and are happy doing a 10 to 5 campaign. A senior leader told me it is now becoming difficult to expect even a district president to work for a candidate unless he or she is paid money — in advance and in cash. Local leaders demand money because they see their leaders spending huge sums for their five star rooms and air- conditioned cars during the campaign. In some cases, contracts were handed out on caste or community basis or to local dons to ensure a certain number of votes were polled in every booth. To give credit where it is due, the cadres of the Left parties still seemed willing to bear the heat and dust of the elections. Others chose the new election model where no campaign is complete without an aircraft and a couple of choppers and the status of a leader is measured in terms of air miles accumulated and not the number of workers mobilised by him or her.

This has led to a disconnect between the leaders and party workers which has now percolated down to the voter. Clearly, the corporate approach to the elections has failed to increase the market share of political parties or leaders. As in business, there is a recession on in politics and the net worth of some of the top notch leaders is plummeting faster than the Sensex. I have a suggestion. Along with names of candidates, the EVMs should also have an option “ None of These”. Voters will surely come out in large numbers to register their anger.