Elections, Democracy and Constitutional Morality in India

To attain a complete understanding of India or Democracy in general, or of Indian democracy in particular, a sustained study of its electoral system is an imperative. One must seek to understand the constitutional, political, cultural and social dimensions of the electoral system in order to achieve a total understanding of India. Elections itself is such a significant and fascinating field of study because it serves as a useful microcosm of our country. Through a study of elections, we can access the core issues and realities of the Indian republic. Within the drama of elections, therefore, our nation’s anxieties and aspirations, ideologies and insecurities, perils and promises, triumphs and tribulations are all revealed and engaged with. Not only do elections serve as a shining symbol of a working democracy but they also, time and again, disclose to us the darker, criminal elements that form part of democracy’s subterranean reaches. Effectively, and at the very least symbolically, it is in elections that our leaders are both birthed and judged, our public empowered, and the tenets of representative democracy celebrated. It is for these reasons that I believe electoral politics to be the litmus test of a democracy. India is both the largest democracy and the second most populous country in the world. This apart, in comparison to most of the developed democracies of the world, problems of illiteracy, poverty,
gender and caste disparities still continue in India as is the case with most of the developing countries. Its electorate is not only vast but also quite diverse reflecting the plurality of caste, religion, region, language, and so on, of its social mosaic. Conducting consistent and periodic elections in the country by encouraging large-scale popular participation is a stupendous task. Going by India's record in this regard, periodic elections as a means of smooth transfer of power have been a regular and successful
feature of India's democracy in the past seventy years. Not only this, Indians have time and again reposed faith in elections as the most potent means of nonviolent and peaceful protest against all acts of omissions and commissions of Government. Elections
have thus become integral to India's democracy as in other successful liberal democracies across the globe.