A friend from Delhi called me around 5.30 PM on 5th January 2015 and told me that he was relieved as the high intensity campaign for Delhi polls have finally ended. I smiled and told him that if he thinks the campaign has stopped then he is in fool's paradise.
In fact the real aggressive campaign has just begun and will continue till voting completes on 7th February 2015. He was really surprised but I am also confident about my conclusion.
No doubt the rallies, road shows and press conferences will not be there. But debates, claims/allegations, counter claims/allegations will continue in media studios. The so called debates will lack merit, rather would be intended to confuse the public and attract them to vote for the party. You can't stop TV debates, thus campaigns are on!
Another space for aggressive campaign is social media. Already the degree of foul language has touched a new low in social media. Facebook and other Media too will be used. None can control this also.
Earlier, after official campaign used to get over, political parties' workers used to approach voters in dark nights to lure them in exchange of cash and kind. In the mobile era this is also not required. Marks men and political agents will be active now. They will contact with some influential person or family head that has control of at least five votes. They can bargain for those votes through mobile phone. Nowadays even a rickshaw-puller owns mobile phones.
30% of the voters in Delhi belong to poor class and they are the target of all the political parties to get their votes. There may be innovative ways to pay cash, liquor and other kinds that can easily avoid Election Commission's vigil. Technically Election Commission has not enough tools to tackle new era of virtual rigging and bribe giving.
There would also be generation of many rumours. It's time for just inclining a voter to give his vote in whatever ways like. Is any party would have an exception? The answer is no. The public knows very well that the promises given by the parties are impracticable. How can a state having revenue less than Mumbai Municipal Corporation can spend USA's yearly budget to fulfil the tall claims.
For BJP and AAP it's 'do or die' situation. AAP is contesting for survival. After the non-BJP and non-Congress parties support to AAP, BJP is considering it as a national clash. Thus the honesty and ethics may be kept aside for next 48 hours. Both would try to go any extra mile not considering right or wrong. For the Congress it's as if last chance to maintain its previous tally. The poor performance would seriously unsettle the family's hold. Thus they would also be following all the tricks possible.
The only point is how the public can be given clear 24/36 hours to make decision regarding their vote. Technically there is neither system available nor any system enforceable. The key is with the voters. If they decide not to allow any parties to disturb them while they are in the process of deciding what to do for the sake of democracy, then things can improve. But it doesn't appear to be possible. It's not the democratic maturity rather the wide difference of economical conditions between various sections of the people.
The bottom line is that ethics of democratic election is still elusive in Indian elections. Such unethical tricks can only be defeated if the voters turn out is more, at least more than 80%. When voting crosses 80%, generally the vote buying didn't work properly. Let's hope Delhi voting turn out becomes more than 80%!
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