Not a commodity for sale

electoral reforms The Gram Panchayat Hakkottaya Andolana campaign aims to keep the elections clean by educating voters in the rural districts of the S

The present political culture undermines the power and rights of people and looks at voting, a fundamental right into a commercial transaction. The price tag is to purchase unquestioned compliance and helpless silence under duress. Even though a large majority of people do recognise the need for fair and just elections and disapprove the reprehensible developments, their silence gives a free rein to the corrupt. This severely affects electoral choices as only the rich and influential get fielded as returns have to be guaranteed. 

Elections in India are the largest arena for corruption in terms of scale and penetration, so if at all a change has to be set in motion, it should begin with each individual. To counter such distortion of democracy, the Grama Panchayat Hakottaya Andolana (GPHA), a network of gram panchayat and gram sabha members across the state, was formed in 2007, to protect and strengthen participatory democracy. Andolana commenced its voter campaign with the clarion call “Me and my vote are not for sale” in 2010.

Honourable objectives
The campaign flagged the urgent need to reclaim the sanctity and power of
individual votes and took note that its impact could be most tangibly at grama panchayat level because of its size and voter-member ratio. The second objective is to educate and empower voters so that they make informed choices when they cast their vote. The campaign also hopes to ensure that this election is clean and money power is not unleashed in the constituencies to buy votes or induce the youth to campaign for candidates backed by political parties.

In its very first year, the campaign garnered support in 19 districts of the State, with over 32,728 people directly involved in it. Around 33 organisations working at the panchayat, district and state levels actively engaged with it and made it a part of their electoral reform campaigns.

The inspiration to sustain the campaign came from the large number of people, mostly the very poor, who refused to be ‘sold out’ as they have the most to lose – votes are their only peg to demand accountability and when that is compromised, it is indeed a dead end. In this campaign, they found an alternative. In large numbers, they purchased the ‘Me and my vote are not for sale’ stickers and put them up on their front doors, auto rickshaws, scooters, shirt fronts – proud to be counted in.  

Taking a stand
In Dharward and Ballari, women from below the poverty line formed groups and said, “We told the men to pick up their money and go away. We said, our honour is not on auction; don’t assume we are on sale. We don’t need personal favours from you. We can earn this money in a few days, but if our honour is lost, how can we ever recover that? Now if you win, we will demand from you what we need as an association, but if we take your money, will we have the moral right to challenge you?” 

This campaign stood its ground during the subsequent taluk, district and state elections as well – with political parties such as AAP also echoing its call. The campaign is not affiliated to any political party and aims to restore the dignity of us, as voters and citizens, by reasserting our right to demand accountability of our elected representatives and uphold the sanctity of electoral democracy. 

In 2014, during the national elections, the campaign had the endorsement of 50 organisations and a direct reach of over 75,000 people in different states of India. It was featured on the popular TV programme Satyamev Jayate as part of its special programme related to ‘de-criminalisation of politics’. Its website had a massive footfall of 12,402,717. Doordarshan and All India Radio repeatedly broadcast their audio visuals, which also strengthened Elections Commission’s efforts to promote the model code of conduct.

Last year, 75 children above the age of 16, from migrant and marginalised
communities of Bengaluru, who are a part of the Bhima Sangha (union of working children), decided to take part in this campaign due to their past experience of being targeted as a community by parties to sell their votes in exchange of material or monetary gains.

They argued that this silenced their voices for advocacy. The youth of our
nation are a very large percentage of this electorate and can make a difference. They have enormous energy, but have no cause to fight for. Hopefully, they are not yet cynical, and if they can find the right cause and leadership to relate to, this energy can be channelled to transform the face of Indian politics. 

Once again, ‘Me and my vote are not for sale’ campaign is resonating across the state – upheld and promoted by communities, civil society groups and organisations. As Lao Tzu put it, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” In this case, there couldn’t have been a more definite step.