Polls and consequences

A former Chief Election Commissioner had described elections as ‘the dance of democracy,’ but unfortunately, money and muscle power seem to be calling the tune for elections.

The increasing use of illicit funds during elections could be gauged from a Press Note titled “Record seizures made during ongoing Assembly Elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh,” issued by the Election Commission on 10 November 2022, which states that seizures of Rs 71.88 crore had been made ‘in just few days of announcement of elections.’ This seizure was almost three times of the seizure (Rs 27.21 crore) during the entire 2017 Gujarat Assembly Elections. Similarly, seizures of Rs.50.28 crore had been made in Himachal Pradesh, which were almost five and a half times of the seizure (Rs 9.03 crore), during the 2017 elections.

Significantly, 1.10 lakh litres of alcohol were seized in Gujarat, making a mockery of prohibition laws. Further, the DRI seized Rs 64 crore of smuggled toys and accessories, meant for illegal use during Gujarat Elections. This is not unusual; in the recent bye elections in Munugode Assembly Constituency (Telangana) cash amounting to Rs 6.60 crore along with thousands of litres of liquor, and precious metals worth Rs. 1.78 crore were seized.

We have the infamous example of Dr J Jayalalitha’s erstwhile constituency, RK Nagar in Chennai, where a bye-election was cancelled in April 2017, after Income-tax sleuths seized cash of Rs.5 crore from an associate of the Tamil Nadu Health Minister, as also distribution plans for another Rs 89 crore.