By Mahesh Vijapurkar
The 100 villagers of Haryana’s Sohna constituency have a demand. They want a resident of the constituency as their representative in the Legislative Assembly or the political parties who foist outsiders would face a poll boycott in the soon-to-be-held elections.
They are tired of outsiders representing them. They not only prefer but want one among them to be the MLA. For over five decades, from 1972, their representative has been a non-local. Parties find candidates from outside, and they are rightly miffed. They see it as a neglect of their political rights.
The feeling was so dominant that the hundred-odd village residents and their panchayat representatives including civic leaders of a nagarnigam held a mahapanchayat and issued a boycott call–either one amongst us or none.
Media reports did not suggest any political orientation or political party support or as a ruse to find a ticket for a specific politician or elder. It is to be noted that outside the Congress headquarters in Delhi, workers from several constituencies have been lobbying for locals.
There was one threat from the Sohna mahpanchayat apart from the boycott plan. If on the last day of nominations for the Haryana elections they find only non-locals, someone from among them would file a nomination. It could well be a desperate move but makes a telling point.
Is it NOTA?
This final, desperate move may or may not yield a local seat in the Assembly. Preparations for contests call for a lot of planning and preparations like putting together loyal workers but the initial Aam Aadmi Party model could serve the cause.
They have good reasons because ‘one of them’ better knows the constituencies and their problems than an outsider would. The outsider first needs to woo the electorate and get to understand the area whose voters send them to the legislature. A local has a jump start and changes the dynamics of politics.
An outsider from any place in the state only becomes a ‘visiting MLA’ which serves little purpose. The Dak Bungalow becomes the home for a while and another visit has to be looked forward to.
It has impacted their level of satisfaction – dissatisfied them – that they found it fit to voice their ire. If you go deeper into the issue, several aspects may have forced their hand. Knowing political ploys, an outsider would have self-interest of pelf than community purpose.
A local MLA is easier to approach for help. While people do seek development, they normally also speak of the need to get their ‘work done’. Their ‘work’ is small and simple. The MLA’s influence to get a seat in a school, a bed in a hospital, hasten the digging of a well, or ensure the freebies flow freely.
When Hobson’s choices are thrown at the voters of this-candidate-from-our-party-or-none and all parties judge the winnability, a mix of the popularity of the party, ideology if it were a factor, ability to raise funds, have a network of cadre, the voters go to the booth. But NOTA even in these circumstances has not been popular, not even among urban educated middle classes.
At least Sohna has verbalized a disgust at five long decades of outsiders’ holding the seat. If this idea of Sohn catches up, an amendment to the Representation of People Act may be in order. That would make for a stronger representation though political dynasties have held sways and converted the seats into their ,bailiwicks.
If one sat through the durbars of the top-level politician of any bailiwick, she would be surprised at the kind of petitions they get. They seek assistance in getting all kinds of things done including a word put in on their behalf to the lowest Revenue official to have the lands measured for partition, get corrections done in the land records, or even have a temple renovated.
Indian bureaucracy and political class have gamed the system so well in their favour that a citizen, regardless of being a voter or not, must seek patronage. Just to let you know, help is dished out only if she is voted for the MLA. Or belongs to his party and does not easily conduct herself as a true representative of all citizens once elected.
The system does not work on its own. The system must be greased with money or political influence to make the bureaucracy go the last mile or to the cutting edge to deliver. So having your man superintending the last mile, the true representative emerges and works. At least that is what Sohna thinks.
Why not?
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