General Elections

By
Prof M Basanna

Our democracy is one of the biggest democracies in the world. Elections are
held once in 5 years to elect the Government. But, now days they are held every
now and then. This has led to the following difficulties.

1. It involves a large sum of money.

2. It requires a lot of human resource.
3. It needs transportation facility, security measurements, etc.

There might be other problems too. All these could be minimized if we make
some changes in the method of conducting elections.

The elections to Legislative Council are held once in 6 years. Here, some
members are elected by teachers, some by graduates, some by MLAs, and some
others nominated too. So is the case of election to Rajya Sabha. In fact both
Legislative Council and Rajya Sabha are redundant and unnecessary in my
opinion. Their jobs could be done by the Governor of the State and President of
India. They may be abolished to minimize expenditure. This modus operandi can
be adopted in all elections.

Today democracy has become the rule of Party Government. It is no less

than the rule of King or an Absolute Ruler. According to democratic principle, any
eligible candidate can contest in the election. But the party prevents it and limits
it one for each party. This is nothing but taking away one’s right to election.
Therefore all parties should go and only people should form the government. For
this, the following procedure be adopted. All parties must be ignored, as no party
emerges as a major party in elections these days.
 Now let us examine the structure of our administration. Village Panchayaths
are at top of the list. Elected by all eligible voters.

Village Panchayaths – Elect Taluk Panchyath Members

↓
Taluk Panchyaths – Elect Zilla Parishath Members and MLAs
↓
Zilla Panchayaths – Elect MPs

1. In elections to the Village Panchayaths all eligible voters can exercise

their franchise. By this way, the voters give their all constitutional rights.

2. Any eligible candidate may contest in the elections. The elections must
be held only once in a period of 5 years.

3. After election, a list of all candidates has to be prepared in the order of

number of votes secured in the election. The seniority will be on the
basis of votes secured. The senior member will serve as the member of
Village Panchayath.

4. They can elect the office bearers among themselves by election or

unopposed. No nomination allowed.

5. They can elect among themselves a Taluk Panchayath Member. If a

member is elected to the next cadre / resigns / dies the next senior
member from the list above will replace him automatically. No bye-
election.

6. These rules apply to the election of Taluk Panchayath and Zilla Parishath.

7. Village Panchayath members shall elect Taluk Panchayath members and

MLAs.

8. MLAs shall elect their Chief Minister and other Ministers.

9. Taluk Panchayath members shall elect Zilla Parishath members and MPs.

10. MPs shall elect their Prime Minister and other Ministers