Should not those who change loyalties overnight for power sharing/self benefits be outrightly rejected by voter citizen?

Voter’s belief in Multiparty Democratic System is weakening with MPs/MLAs frequently Shifting Loyalties

DAYA SAGAR

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (Chairman of the Constituent Assembly’s Drafting Committee) in his concluding remarks while speaking in the Constituent Assembly on Constitution on November 25, 1949 among other things had said (< “”Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is, that Man was vile.”….”Independence is no doubt a matter of joy. But let us not forget that this independence has thrown on us great responsibilities. By independence, we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves. There is a great danger of things going wrong.”>. Indians need to introspect how they have so far held to the democratic values enshrined in Constitution of India & ofcourse also as individual units of the Indian democracy.
Indians adopted to self a democratic multiparty system of parliamentary democracy enshrined in a well debated & discussed world’s heaviest written constitution but he also feared that in case those who will be conducting the democratic system if care more for their self it may lead towards a bad course for the people of India. In the electoral system that India has adopted the rulers change atleast every 5 years and the political affairs this day do reflect that the political leaders care more for remaining in the power seat than for the good of the common voter citizen.
In the political culture that is growing today the politicians very frequently change the loyalties, may be even thrice in a term. More people are found changing the associations / parties more during election days and bargain for tickets.
Leaders change loyalties, they change ideologies and they even change emotional ethics but still “carry” the confidence that their followers are not disturbed with their changing styles and will still vote for them. It is so unfortunate that such ‘leaders’ appear so firmly believe that their followers do not have any ideology of their own and would go with the ‘turncoat’ leaders as bonded ‘voter’ . In most of the cases the ‘turncoat’ leaders succeed making any analyst to believe that their followers are not aware of the power of their vote & responsibility towards preserving , protecting and defending the democratic values enshrined in the constitution of India .
It would not be wrong to say that some people these days appear voting only keeping in mind for whom to vote and not for what to vote which is unfortunate for preserving the democratic values of our system India observed 25th January2024 as India’s 14th National Voters’ Day (observed/ celebrated to mark the foundation day of the Election Commission of India, i.e. 25th January 1950.). In a function organised by Election commission of India in Delhi Hon’ble President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu was the the Chief Guest with NVD 2024 theme as – ‘Nothing Like Voting, I Vote For sure’ and a short voter awareness film – ‘My Vote My Duty’ produced by ECI was also screened focusing on evoking the spirit of democracy and the power of one vote.
The National Voters’ Day( NVD) was first celebrated by the Smt. Pratibha Devi Patil, the then President of India on 25th January 2011 ( 63rd foundation day of Election Commission of India) with the objective of increasing voter enrolment focusing specially on new voters. On the 1st National Voters’ day the newly enrolled electors were given a badge with the slogan “Proud to be a Voter-Ready to Vote” and were administered a pledge that goes : “We, the citizens of India, having abiding faith in democracy, hereby pledge to uphold the democratic traditions of our country and the dignity of free, fair and peaceful elections, and to vote in every election fearlessly and without being influenced by considerations of religion, race, caste, community, language or any inducement”. As a part of the run-up to NVD, the Election Commission has been running a comprehensive Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign to attract and educate voters across the country, especially the youth and the women.
So, Before we take on the subject further let us refresh our information that NVD is being celebrated with the objective of making the electoral process more effective, making democratic governments to be installed in India more concerning and above all improving the awareness & sensitivity in generations like Theme NVD “2013–Inclusion. Theme-2014 – Ethical Voting. NVD Theme 2015: “Easy Registration, Easy Correction Theme 2016: “Inclusive and qualitative participation “Theme 2017: “Empowering Young and Future Voters “Theme 2018: “Assessable Elections” Theme 2019: “No Voter to be left behind” ” Theme 2020: “Electoral Literacy for Stronger Democracy” Theme 2021: “Making Our Voters Empowered, Vigilant, Safe and Informed” Theme 2022 NVD “”Making elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative”, and Theme VBD 2023 has been ‘Nothing Like Voting, I Vote for Sure’.
Surely work has been done but so far it has been on ground more particularly for increasing voter registration and participation numbers but as regards awareness & duty for upholding the democratic traditions & voting without being influenced by considerations of religion, race, caste, community, language or any inducement what has been the achievement needs serious introspection particularly by Election Commission of India w.r.t to themes like 2014 “Ethical Voting”, 2016: “Inclusive and qualitative participation ” 2020: “Electoral Literacy for Stronger Democracy,” 2021: “Making Our Voters Empowered, Vigilant, Safe and Informed””.
There is must need for making the voter citizen to and also the vote seeker too introspect how far the franchise is being cast in terms of the Pledge taken on 1st NVD and to introspect how far Vote seeker have been able to provide to the Voter Citizen environment worth voting in election fearlessly and without being influenced by considerations of religion, race, caste, community, language, any emotional inducement or material allurements.
And ofcourse the law makers and the Election Commission of India must earnestly deliberate on the procedures , rules and the checks installed for achieving the objectives the elders had kept in view for the people of sovereign democratic republic of India.
Should not those who change loyalties overnight for power sharing / self benefits be outrightly rejected by voter citizen in case they change loyalties when outside power or a few months before elections ?.
We in India are celebrating National Voters Day (NVD) every 25th Jan since 2011 , Election Commission of India must set the theme for NVD 2025 for voter education on similar lines.
(The writer is Sr Journalist / Analyst Jammu & Kashmir Affairs)