Messers Obama, Schumer, Punjab needs you!
We polled deception wholesale!
S P Singh
On January 31, when Punjab was peaking up to witness a dirty vituperative election campaign, two Democratic senators were presenting a bill in the House which was an example of how a mature democracy acts when it sees aberrations in a polling process.
Two Democratic senators, Barack Obama of Illinois and Charles Schumer of New York, introduced a bill that would make deceiving or intimidating voters a federal crime with substantial penalties.
As the New York Times mentioned in an editorial on the morning of the day the two were to present the bill, dirty tricks do turn up every election season, "in large part because they are so rarely punished."
The NYT detailed that on Election Day last fall in Maryland, fliers were handed out in black neighborhoods with the heading “Democratic Sample Ballot” and photos of black Democratic leaders — and boxes checked off beside the names of the Republican candidates for senator and governor. They were a blatant attempt to fool black voters into thinking the Republican candidates were endorsed by black Democrats. In Orange County, Calif., 14,000 Latino voters got letters in Spanish saying it was a crime for immigrants to vote in a federal election. It didn’t say that immigrants who are citizens have the right to vote.
There have been other forms of election related crimes also, and the bill addresses such issues. For example, it would also criminalize making false claims to voters about who has endorsed a candidate, or wrongly telling people — like immigrants who are registered voters in Orange County — that they cannot vote.
Strange that such an evolved step at using the law to plug a loophole was being experimented at the same time when Punjab politicos were trying to either get a cult-style demi-religious dera head to endorse the candidature of one particular political party while the opposition party was clearly perceived to be behind un-credited advertisements purported to be issued by the same dera head asking voters that he hasn't endorsed anyone. This left the gullible voters confused, and the educated voters disgusted with the exercise termed as a dance of democracy.
The US polls have often seen deceptive political tactics like knowingly telling voters the wrong day for an election. "There have been numerous reports of organized efforts to use telephones, leaflets or posters to tell voters, especially in minority areas, not to vote on Election Day because voting has been postponed," the NYT said. While such tactics aren't feasible in a state the size of Punjab, the voters certainly were fooled into reading seemingly regular newspaper pages which were actually paid for by one or the other political party.
India currently has an Election Commission which has earned for itself a reputation for being a tough one to deal with when election process is on. But it is also widely perceived that the EC isn't as logical sometimes as it is tough.
For example, in Nawanshahr district of Punjab, the Deputy Commissioner was hell bent on implementing the law in letter and spirit. As a result, liquor flow was stopped, everyone needed an identity proof to buy more than two bottles of liquor ("The provision is part of the excise Act," the DC said), no was allowed to splash the town with posters, buntings, flags and pennons of political parties were missing, and candidates got a taste of what the law means if someone means business. Now, either the DCs of the rest of the districts were lax in implementation, or the Nawanshahr man, Krishan Kumar, was acting bossy.
But then it is easiest to get a revenue land report (farad) in Nawanshahr, it is easiest to get a driving licence made, the district is making waves for its queue system, and the ultra sound boy-or-girl business has ended there.
That brings us back to the question: Do we need better laws, or more laws, or are we just helplessly watching our politicos and the babudom not implementing the law?
The truth lies somewhere in-between. We need more laws also: We need our own Barack Obamas and Charles Schumers who should push for legislation to punish the officers who do not act as they should have under the law. And we must not act as the helpless bystanders: We must question why proprietors, editors and the editor-proprietors were selling regular-look news pages to political parties, encouraging proxy advertisements and allowed vituperative content to go to print even if it was paid for.
Having had the experience of the kind of electioneering we witnessed this time in Punjab, it would be better if the NRI contribution to the electioneering were in forms better than joining in the fun and funding or issuing more proxy advertisements. The Punjabi diaspora can send delegations to study the election process flaws, pat the good practices, raise its voice against issueless campaigning, remind politicians of real issues of the people and the state and shame the recalcitrant into line. The maxim is that when you can’t hang the guilty, at least embarrass him.
One of the much appreciated clauses of the bill brought forward by the two Democrat Senators is the requirement by the Justice Department to counteract deceptive election information that has been put out, and to report to Congress after each election on what deceptive practices occurred and what the Justice Department did about them. Such a legislative measure is certainly visible on the Punjab horizon, but what the NRI Punjabi brethren can do is to take the task upon themselves and list and publicise the deceptive practices employed in Punjab. With wide sections of the media joining in, there is little hope that the initiative will come from the mainstream penpushers, though the niche media or the alternative media scribes are sure raising their voice. However, the diaspora turning its attention to the rot within will act as a force multiplier. Punjab today looks upon you for helping it raise the voice of sanity above the din of deceptive electioneering.
One of the worst dirty tricks of last fall’s election in the US was a particular kind of deceptive “robocall” that was used against Democratic Congressional candidates. These calls, paid for by the Republicans, sounded as if they had come from the Democrat; when a recipient hung up, the call was repeated over and over. The intent was clearly to annoy the recipients so they would not vote for the Democrat.
Thankfully, the Punjab politicians do not read the United States newspapers much. Or thousands of voters would have been woken up to the gruffy voice of Prakash Singh Badal or the aggressive tone of Captain Amarinder Singh, of course each paid for by the other. Even Obama-Schumer bill does not address this robocall menace. So, please don’t underestimate Mr Politician. Neither in Mansa, nor in Maryland!
Feb 21, 2007