Summer, Elections and Economy

The 2019 summer in India has seen the temperature rise beyond electioneering. The mercury has almost breached the earlier recorded maximum in many places even before peak summer.

Some people who went on election duty, the real heroes, had to take leave for a day or two on their return because of exposure to heat and exhaustion.

This rising temperature adds to the drought like condition faced in more than two-fifths of the country's agriculture. An unfortunate fallout of this, on account of model code of conduct that remains in force for an extended period because of the seven-phase elections, is the delay in policy decisions (not that the decisions would have come without that and that the decisions, if any, would have been farmer and farm friendly).

A lot many youth had their employment prospect increase in the week before voting as they were engaged in work related to campaigning for candidates. Some of them could earn enough to buy an air conditioner such that their families could escape the rising mercury. However, in the week immediately after voting these temporary opportunities were no more there and they were left in a state of unemployment or, if employed, without this additional source of earning.

There were a few candidates who arrived at a compromise with their opponents. As a result, they saved themselves the trouble of campaigning during these troubling times.

Along with soaring temperatures, the cash and liquor seizures have surpassed the previous amount and we are just at the half-way mark. It is said that the reported seizure is the tip of the iceberg.

The temporary employment, the freebies, the compromises, and the cash seizures (particularly, those that have not been reported) have led to an increase in demand for consumer durables even in rural areas. Quite an achievement for the rural economy reeling under drought.

In spite of all these, the popular discourse is falling short when it comes to climate change, state of agriculture, unemployment, or unaccounted for money. Well, at least the economy, in the first quarter of this fiscal, is showing buoyancy. 

I was about to sign out with long live demo#$&!*, but my fingers faltered. Instead, I end with the dictum, 'it's the economy, stupid!'

Candidates for Bhubaneswar PC in Elections 2019

Introduction
I will be voting for the Bhubaneswar Parliamentary Constituency (PC) and the Bhubaneswar North Assembly Constituency (AC) in the third phase of 2019 general elections for India that will take place on 23 April 2019. I have had a look at the affidavits of the candidates for the Bhubaneswar PC.

There were 41 affidavits of 18 candidates, but only 14 are finally in the fray. Besides, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have also put up a report for all the third phase candidates of Odisha and there is a page for the constituency at MyNeta. Based on these, some basic information is provided in Table 1 in which the names of the candidates are put up alphabetically by their first names. This is also likely to be the order of their names in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Table 1 Information on Candidates for Bhubaneswar PC for General Elections 2019
Name	Party	Symbol	Asset Details, Rs	Criminal Cases	Education
Aparajita Sarangi	BJP	Lotus	3.1 cr+	-	BA English
Arup Mohan Patnaik	BJD	Conch	9.2 cr+	-	BSc, LLB
Bhakta Sekhar Ray	KS	Bat	44.0 la+	Yes (1)	HSC, Radio and TV Technician
Biswanath Ramachandra	FPI	Hat	76.3 la+	-	MA Political Science
Biswanath Rout	KP	Chappals	42.5 la+	-	MA, LLB
Janardan Pati	CPI(M)	Hammer, Sickle and Star	2.3 cr+	Yes (1)	BA, LLB
Jayant Kumar Das	Ind1	Helment	55.5 la+	-	PG Diploma in Labour Law
Lalita Kumar Nayak	BSP	Elephant	16.9 la+	-	LLB
Madhu Sudhan Yadav	Ind2	Scissors	29.2 la+	-	BA Economics (Board of Sec Edu)
Mahesh Chandra Sethi	Ind3	Calculator	4.0 th+	-	BTech (Civil)
Pramila Behera	CPI(ML)RS	Saw	47.2 th+	-	BA
Sanjaya Kumar Sahoo	Ind4	Whistle	21.0 la+	-	BA, PG JMC
Subhranshu Sekhar Padhi	AITC	Flowers and Grass	2.0 cr+	Yes (3)	PG Diploma in Business Management
Susil Kumar Jena	Ind5	Pot	30.0 la+	-	MEng (Electronics and Telecommunications)
Sources: Affidavits provided by candidates available at Chief Electoral Officer, Odisha, a report prepared from these affidavits by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), and a page put up by MyNeta. All these pages were accessed on 22 April 2019. Notes: PC is in title of table is Parliamentary Constituency. For column with heading 'Party': AITC is All India Trinamool Congrees, BJD is Biju Janata Dal, BJP is Bharatiya Janata Party, BSP is Bahujan Samaj Party, CPI(M) is Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI(M-L)RS is Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Star, FPI is Freethought Party of India, KP is Krupaa Party, KS is Kalinga Sena, Ind1 to Ind5 are Independents 1 to 5, as per their names put alphabetically. For column with heading 'Asset Details' the figures are in Rs (rupees) where cr, la, and th dente crore, lakh and thousand, respectively. Disclaimer: There might have been some inadvertent error while providing the above information. Hence, in case of discrepancy or if any one wants to cross check the information themselves, one should look up the original affidavits provided by the candidates.

The 14 Candidates
Based on the information in Table 1 and some additional information that I may have accessed, I briefly discuss each candidate as per their alphabetical listing.

Aparajita Sarangi, as per her affidavit, has a web page of her own. The page indicates that she was inspired by the Prime Minister and BJP party  President and also provides a biography of her work as an officer through the Indian administrative services. She has earned a name as a good officer in the popular perception, but more as an executive functionary. A concern for a politically conscious lay citizen is why should experience in administration as an executive be an advantage for someone taking the plunge to facilitate legislation. It is, of course, possible that her experience can have an advantage as a political executive, but that is an independent decision beyond the domain of the voter.

Arup Mohan Patnaik was recently associated with the Odisha State Youth Welfare Board and is contesting as BJD candidate. Prior to that, he was with the Indian police services in Maharashtra and has a wiki page in his name. He has many credits and a decorated officer (and perhaps a bolywood character). He has also worked under leaders across the political spectrum in Maharashtra and that could be an asset for Odisha in Delhi. Outside his policing, he has also done some work for treatment of cancer patients, particularly for those going from Odisha to Mumbai. One needs to point out that  policing and facilitating legislation are different things. At the same time, one ought to concede that experience in social service and a law degree may facilitate legislation, but then the transition will not not be that straightforward.

Bhakta Sekhar Ray is representing Kalinga Sena party. As per his affidavit, he edits an Odia weekly.  With regard to education, he has completed his HSC and has also been trained as a Radio and TV technician. He also has a criminal case pending against him.

Biswanath Ramachandra is the founder General Secretary of Freethought Party of India (FPI). The page has a message from the candidate and it does talk about some concerns on democratic functioning. You will also see him with a Hat, the party symbol, whose colour green will also remind many from Bhubaneswar that he is Professor Ramachandra of AMOFOI (Anti-caste Marriage and One-child Family Organization of India). It is said that as a teacher and academic administrator he had his differences with people because of his secular and rationalist position, but was not disliked by those who did not agree with his views. His long standing involvement in social issues and social movement may help in facilitating legislation.

Biswanath Rout is from the Krupaa Party. He is a superannuated government servant, perhaps from the police services. He has a Master's and a law degree.

Janardan Pati represents CPI(M), which has a pre-poll agreement with some other parties - INC, CPI and JMM - in Odisha for 2019 general elections. He edits a magazine and also has a law degree. He has a criminal case registered against him, which as his affidavit points out is after he had filed a case against the individual who had physically harmed him. Independent of the alliance, the party did have a base in the past in Bhubaneswar and has taken up pro-people issues. It is said that he responds quickly to queries in his Facebook page.

Jayanta Kumar Das is an independent candidate. He has a degree in labour law and is an advocate. There is not much beyond that that one can ascertain for the candidate's affidavit. In any case, one needs to be aware that practicing law in the bar and formulating laws are two different things. 

Lalita Kumar Nayak is contesting as a BSP candidate. He has a law degree and is an advocate, and hence, the distinction in practicing and formulating law should be kept in mind. A search takes one to a Facebook page that is probably his, but the link is not provided as it is not obvious either from the affidavit or from the page that this is indeed the case.

Madhu Sudhan Yadav is contesting as an independent. His affidavit indicates of a BA in Economics from Board of Secondary Education (BSE). This may be an inadvertent error because BSE does not offer BA degrees.

Mahesh Chandr Sethi is contenting as an independent. As per the affidavit of all candidates, he is the poorest with Rs.4000/-. He has a BTech in Civil Engineering and pursuing law and one would have expected him to have some presence in social media, but that is not obvious from his affidavit. For some logistic reason, his is the only affidavit not analysed by ADR and MyNeta.

Pramila Behera is a candidate for CPI(M-L)RS. The party's decision to put up a candidate when there is another left candidate indicates an absence of unity between them.

Sanjaya Kumar Sahoo is an independent candidate. His affidavit indicates his educational qualification to be post graduate in journalism and mass communication, which implies that there ought to have been a presence in social media, but the affidavit as also an internet search does not indicate that.     

Subhranshu Sekhar Padhi is a contestant for AITC. The party page gives a list of contestant from West Bengal, but not from Odisha. He has a post graduate diploma in business management. Incidentally, he also has three criminal cases registered against his name, which is the highest among all candidates.

Susil Kumar Jena is an independent candidate. He has a Masters in Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunications and one would have expected his strong presence is social media, but this is not obvious from his affidavit or from an internet search.

   

Some Additional Concerns on Whom To Vote
Recently, I had put up some suggestions to the Election Commission of India (ECI), which I will present again below, but before that let me reiterate my response in the ensuing discussions in the wall of the post to a concern on whom to vote.

Elections to Lok Sabha in India and similarly for lower houses in the States are not like the elections for the US President. The Prime Ministerial face from a party is not that important, as she/he, like the US President, will be an Executive head. The most important parameter for me is that we are selecting law makers, that is, people who can articulate concerns from the perspective of people in the Lok Sabha or to the lower house of the state assemblies.

The sad part is parties do not select candidates keeping this in mind. There is, unfortunately, a premium given to the candidates role as an Executive (that is, their possibility of becoming a Minister) or other considerations. This, along with the whip, whatever may be its rationale, makes law making a casualty.

Having said that, if at all one would like to give some weight to the party then it should not be for strengthening the Executive, but rather for strengthening the Legislature, which should be independent of the political, as also administrative, executives. A healthy democracy would be one where the Legislature, the Executive along with its different entities, the Judiciary and the fourth estate are all independent.

Some suggestions to Election Commission of India
In the Facebook post referred to above, I had put up some suggestions for ECI in future elections. They are as follows.

The ECI should ask the candidates to enter the data in a reader friendly electronic format so that voters can easily compare across major parameters for candidates in their constituency or even for candidates across constituencies. I know that the ADR and MyNeta do this for almost all contestant for most constituencies, but they must be entering the data again, which is a tedious task. The entry by candidates in the first instance will reduce this time and effort and release the resources with ADR and MyNeta for additional work like providing information from the social media of contestants or organizing a debate in the social media among contestants.

In the affidavit as also in the reader friendly format there should also be a space provided to the candidates to indicate why they should be the right candidate and why should the voter chose her/him. Frankly, the current information provided in the affidavits do not provide much information for helping the voter to choose.

The ECI should also provide a platform (through social media) where voters can ask the candidates questions and the candidates can respond.

Concluding Remarks and Disclaimer
The purpose of this exercise was to educate myself about the candidates and I am sharing this so that it might be of use to others.  I also share my concerns on the parameters one may consider in selecting whom to vote and also provided some suggestion to ECI for conducting elections in the future to make the affidavits provided by candidates easily accessible to the voters.

I thank the candidates for providing their information through their affidavits, the ECI for making the scanned PDFs of the affidavits accessible. The ADR and MyNeta teams are doing yeomen service by analyzing the data available in the affidavits and presenting them in a voter friendly manner.

I must mention that I might have met some of the candidates in some or the other capacity, but do not recall having met any of them in the recent past after the announcement of the dates for general elections 2019 by ECI. I must also put it categorically that I am not supporting any party or any candidate. I wish all the candidates their very best. Let democracy be the winner.

Gatekeeper and Citizen

"Before the law sits a Gatekeeper" are the opening words of the parable, Before the Law by Franz Kafka. The Gatekeeper (or, the Chowkidar), true to zir duty, does not allow "a man from the country" (hereafter, the Citizen or the Nagarik) to enter through the gate. In the beginning, the Gatekeeper lets the Citizen know that it is possible for the Citizen to get entry, "but not now."

The Citizen till zir fag end could never get entry through the gate. Nevertheless, the only consolation, if one may say so, is that  the Gatekeeper lets the Citizen know that the gate, like Aadhaar, was specially prepared by the State for zir entry. 

The parable while complete, somewhere, leaves a feeling of something being incomplete. The Gatekeeper, who has only done zir duty, moves on, without conveying what ze feels - ze perhaps has a sense of completion, perhaps not.

In a rational (not reasonable) manner, it would make sense to the Gatekeeper to internalize and accept that the gate (as also the wall) is for everyone's good. This also facilitates the Gatekeeper's move to a higher level. It is said that if one gate closes then many others open up. Note, the gates open up only for the Gatekeeper if ze is willing to continue as a Gatekeeper. Otherwise, ze can always be like the Citizen, waiting for zir entry through a gate that is specially made for zir.

It is pertinent to inform that Before the Law by Franz Kafka is a parable from an unfinished novel, The Trial, which has a concluding chapter. So, one is left with a question. Is the sense of completeness meant for some, like the Gatekeeper, who perhaps moves to a higher level of gatekeeping, but not for the Citizen, who is meant to wait on at a gate specifically prepared for zir?

[This write-up on Gatekeeper and Citizen (or, Chowkidar and Nagarik) is based on a reading of Franz Kafka's Before the Law. Any similarity with the larger discourse on Chowkidar in the Indian context now is coincidental.]

© Srijit Mishra