‘In a democracy, know how to win gracefully’

There are altogether 2,293 constituencies in India. These include constituencies for Parliament, that is, for the House of the People and the Council of States and for the Legislative Assemblies and Councils in the States. Altogether 4,412 representatives will be chosen for these various Legislatures.

The number of voters on our electoral rolls is about 176,600,000. The number of polling booths will approximately be 224,000.

Each polling booth will have to be manned by a Presiding Officer, five clerks and four policemen. As elections will not take place all over India simultaneously, part of the stall required will do duty in more than one place. A rough estimate of the specialized staff required is:

Presiding Officers 56,000
Clerks 280,000
Policemen 224,000

To these will be added vast numbers of Government servants and voluntary workers. Indeed, the whole machinery of the State will be especially geared for the elections. The estimated cost of the elections, both for the Central Government and State Governments, is approximately Rs 100,000,000.

I have referred only to the official staff; but in addition there will be an election agent for every candidate as well as other agents and assistants.

Thus, the number of people engaged in these elections, besides the voters, is very large. Indeed, the entire organization has been built on a colossal scale and is a test for all of us. The gigantic preparation for the actual business of polling has been preceded by a tremendous amount of human labour. To begin with, the electoral rolls had to be prepared. You can imagine what a great quantity of paper must have been required for these rolls and the vast amount of printing which had to be done.

Unfortunately, many of our voters are not literate and we have, therefore, to provide coloured boxes with emblems for different parties and candidates. This introduces a fresh burden-which the Governments at the Centre and in the States have to shoulder. For the purpose, they have had to build up a huge staff which functions under the Central Election Commission. But no amount of governmental organization can make these elections a success unless the people themselves cooperate. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance for our people that they understand all the processes which lead us to their vote and give us their intelligent cooperation.

Many organised parties are running candidates for these elections. It is also likely that there will be some independent candidates. Every party and every candidate must be given a fair and equal chance in these elections. The fact that one party happens to be in charge of government does not entitle it to any special privileges during the elections. Officers of the Government must function impartially. Strict instructions have been issued to all of them by the Central and the State Governments, that they should carry out their duties with the strictest neutrality. The law has laid down penalties for any improper conduct on the part of a public servant. The Election Commission has also issued similar warnings on several occasions and suitable action will certainly be taken in regard to improper or illegal conduct.

Candidates and their agents must remember their duties and obligations and make it a point to be well acquainted with the complicated law on the subject of elections. Any error or lapse may disqualify them.

The Ministers of the Government, many of whom will themselves be standing as candidates for election, have a difficult task before them. They must not utilize their official position to further their own election prospects in any way. They must try to separate, as far as possible, their official duties from their electoral or
private work. Detailed instructions to this effect have been issued.

It should always be remembered that the National Flag must not be used or exploited for party purposes. Indeed, there are strict rules as to when the National Flag may be used officially. It must not be used for any election purpose.

The whole object of democratic elections is to ascertain the views of the electorate on major problems and to enable the electorate to select their representatives. Parties place their programmes before the public and carry on intensive propaganda to convince the electorate of the virtues of each individual programme as well as of the demerits of other programmes. These conflicting approaches are supposed to educate and enlighten the electorate and enable it to choose rightly.

For some reason, elections cause a great deal of excitement and sometimes even passion. Unfortunately, this excitement may also lead to improper behaviour and to a lowering of normal standards of democracy. We have to be on our guard against this. It is of the utmost importance that all of us, whatever the party to which we belong, should maintain a high level of propriety and decorous behaviour. Our propaganda by speech or in writing should not be personal but should deal with policies and programmes. It should on no account be allowed to degenerate into personal criticism and abuse. The standard we set up now will act as a precedent and govern future elections.

The elections have already begun and polling has taken place in some of the remote valleys of Himachal Pradesh. This had to be done now because in mid-winter the mountain passes are closed and travelling becomes very difficult. For the same reason, a few constituencies in the mountainous parts of Uttar Pradesh will poll next February. These are exceptional cases and polling will take place over the length and breadth of the country in January on the dates which have already been announced.

I have given you a simple and rather bald account of these elections. I should like you, however, to try and realize the deep significance of this great adventure of the Indian people. Hundreds of millions of people in India will determine the future of this country. They will put their voting papers in tens of thousands of ballot boxes indicating their choice and will or should do so peacefully. Out of these voting papers will emerge the Members of the Parliament of India and of the State Assemblies and we shall accept the result of this election without question.

That is the essence of democracy. All of us naturally want the cause we represent to triumph and we strive for that end. In a democracy, we have to know how to win and also how to lose with grace. Those who win should not allow this to go to their heads, those who lose should not feel dejected.

The manner of winning or losing is even more important than the result. It is better to lose in the right way than to win in the wrong way. Indeed, if success comes through misconceived effort or wrong means, then the value of that success itself is lost.

There have been interminable arguments about ends and means in India. Do wrong means justify right ends? So far as we, in India, are concerned we decided long ago that no end, for which wrong means were employed, could be right. If we apply that principle to the elections, we must come to the conclusion that it is far better that the person with wrong ends in view be elected than that the persons whose aims are worthy should win through dubious methods. If dubious methods are employed, then the rightness of the aims becomes meaningless.

I lay stress upon this because it is important and because there is a tendency, during election time, to disregard all standards of behaviour. I earnestly hope that every candidate along with his supporters will remember that to some extent he has the honour of India in his keeping and conduct himself accordingly.

Excerpted with permission from Speaking Tiger, the publishers