Dr.JP's Address on Internal Elections

Dear Friends,

The Internal Elections of Lok Satta Party have been notified by the Independent Election Authority (IEA) on March 6, 2013. The process is now on.

This is a difficult and courageous step for a political party in a country in which parties are traditionally autocratic and leadership is often unelected. This is particularly complicated in a society in which democracy is still a novel concept and is largely limited to voting and free speech. Nevertheless, we must make a beginning and set an example.

Once we have appointed IEA and entrusted to them the authority to conduct elections, we have to adhere to their directions. The IEA has and experienced and highly credible Chair, Sri K Madhava Rao, former Chief Secretary of AP and former State Election Commissioner (a Constitutional authority), with Sri Kalanidhi Satyanarayana (former Law Secretary), and Sri M.Padmanabha Reddy (former official of Indian Forest Service and former Campaign Coordinator of Lok Satta Movement) as members.

Elections were notified on March 6 and the list of members was handed over to the IEA on March 6, 2013. Emails were created to each district and soft copies were sent on 9th and 10th March, 2013 simultaneously hard copies were also posted. Nominations have been called between 18-20 March 2013 for Party President and offices at various other levels, except the office bearers at the State level. I understand that about 2% of the members’ names have not found place because of communication gaps at various levels. Similarly, names of a few other members enrolled earlier were inadvertently because of software glitches. Also some of the entries were inaccurate. All these errors account for total of 3 ½ % (956 of over 28000 eligible voters). After these errors were notified, the membership office made earnest efforts to correct them. However, the IEA took the stand that even omissions on account of obvious errors should not be rectified after the list was handed over to them. This is inconvenient and disappointing for several members, but we must respect IEA’s decision. Once an Independent external authority is monitoring elections, we all should accept their decisions. While membership rolls are the party’s responsibility, the process after handing them over to IEA has to be under their guidance. The membership team has done a remarkable job in the face of many problems and severe
limitations. While 3% errors are regrettable, they are not uncommon. Even in highly digitized society like US, there are about 4% errors in census data.

Despite massive resources and personnel, in India, the electoral rolls have about 12 – 15% errors in urban areas and 5% errors in rural areas. In the height of our experience, we need more safeguards and adequate time to correct errors in future. The membership team led by Sri Lakshman Balaji and Ms.Padma Bhupatiraju has done a remarkable job and worked late nights for weeks to put things in place. The IEA took the responsibility entrusted to them seriously and painstakingly prepared election manuals for LSP, and made elaborate arrangements. Unlike in General Elections, IEA had to newly identify and appoint Election Officers and Returning Officers, and train them, and make complicated logistical arrangements. They are doing a remarkable job out of love for democracy.

I am constituting a team comprising of Ms.Hyma Sagi, Ms Padma Bhupatiraju and Mr.Dilip Sankar Reddy to identify the process difficulties and defects in voter rolls, and recommend specific corrective measures for the future. Preparation of accurate membership rolls in particular is the Party’s responsibility, and we must make it fool-proof.

I urge all members to participate actively and compete in a healthy manner to build institutions and leadership in the party. Fierce contestation may sometimes lead to insecurity and on occasion mistrust. It is to ensure a level-playing field and free and fair election that IEA has been created. We must learn to trust the process and actively participate. At all stages of the process, IEA is putting in place transparent mechanisms for fair and free election.

I urge all members to utilize this opportunity to build leadership at every level. The challenge of India is to promote member-participation in political parties, and to allow credible and competent leadership to emerge at every level. Elections are a small but important step in this respect. There are no winners and losers in this process. We are all winners if we learn how to build how to learn a democratic party, and how to accommodate the minority in decision-making. Whoever is elected has a greater responsibility in creating an inclusive atmosphere. Everyone elected or unelected, has responsibility in bearing the difficult burden of sustaining ethical politics in India and making it successful.

I wish you all the best.

Regards,

Jayaprakash Narayan,
President Lok Satta Party.