Leave poll verdict to voters wisdom

Every party talks of the need for eliminating the menace of money and muscle power during elections. Just before the elections, every party demands that there should be major political reforms so that the money power can be contained. But soon after coming to power, they put it on backburner.

It has also become a habit for all political parties to accuse their opponents of destroying all the institutions. The latest is the jibes at the Congress by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who says from the press to Parliament, from soldiers to free speech, from the Constitution to the courts, institutional insult is the Congress' way.

"Everyone is wrong, only the Congress is correct. As you go to vote, remember the past and how one family's desire for power cost the nation ...," Modi said. "If they (Congress) could do it then, they can surely do it now. Eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty," he added.

He said India has seen how rise of dynastic politics has forced institutions to take a severe beating. To prove his point, the Prime Minister said one need not go beyond the party to understand it. He pointed at the Congress' internal democracy and said if a leader dares to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out of the Congress.

"Political parties are vibrant bodies that manifest diverse public opinion. Sadly, Congress does not believe in internal democracy. The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes.

Sounds music to ears but the big question is, did BJP succeed in reversing the trend? Surely not. The political situation in Andhra Pradesh is a stark example of Modi's intolerance. Indian elections are considered the biggest voting event and the largest democratic process in the world. India was considered to be so good at organising elections smoothly.

But this election seems to be one which will go down in the history as a unique one. The kind of accusations that are being heaped against each other more than the party and its programmes are something that was never seen in the past.

While the major parties come with pages and pages of reforms that should be introduced to check money power, they are not ready for one simple experiment which can show which party stands where without spending money like water on various surveys and attempts to buy votes. If the electoral system is to be cleansed, all parties should take a decision that they will not conduct huge rallies and public meetings but organise road shows in select areas in each constituency.

Instead of huge rallies they can make use of electronic and print media. While the Opposition should analyse the performance of the government and explain what they would do for the people if they come to power without sacrificing the welfare and developmental programmes launched by the government of the day, the ruling party should present a progress report of what it has done and what it proposes to do in next five years if voted to power.

The campaign should be bereft of personal attacks and calling each other a murderer of mafia leader etc. They should also keep away from the practice of note for vote and leave the judgement to the wisdom of the people.

The first political reform should be that the political parties should learn to respect the voters and recognise that they have enough intelligence to decide who should govern them for the next five years. If this simple reform cannot be implemented, then the parties have no right to talk about political reforms as none of them can cleanse the existing system and usher in healthy politics.