Priceless Democracy

With the curtain finally coming down on the 14th General Elections, it is perhaps an appropriate time to count the cost of the month-long extravaganza. According to one estimate, between 1967 and 2004, the government spending on parliamentary polls has increased from Rs 1.68 crore to Rs 1,300 crore.

Taking into account inflation, the rise, in real terms, is close to 60 times. In comparison, the size of the electorate has gone up only by 2.7 times over this period. Shocking? Not really, because increase in electoral expenditure is, in part, explained by the maturing of our democratic process. Since the first polls in 1952, India's democracy has become far more inclusive in character. Particularly after the 1990s, dalits and backwards have become significant players in the political process, contesting and voting in ever increasing numbers. To the extent that this assertion is still viewed as a challenge by entrenched interests, it sparks off poll violence in certain regions.

Not surprisingly, more and more security forces are being deployed in each successive election to counter the threat of violence. The extra paraphernalia comes at a cost. Ironically, this democratic upsurge, has also manifested itself in the criminalisation of politics. The rise of the Pappu Yadavs and the Shahbuddins of the electoral arena is as much a reflection of this as of the failure of the Indian state to deliver basic social and economic goods.

Elsewhere in the country, the electoral process is under siege from mindless, anti-democratic extremism - ranging from Kashmiri militancy to the 'red menace' in the central and eastern parts of the country. Each additional threat has ramped up the electoral costs. It is, therefore, necessary to place the Rs 1,300 crore in perspective. The Indian state, let's not forget, routinely forks out much larger sums of money on other questionable ends without any eyebrows being raised. In the end, however, the electoral imperative is beyond any cost-benefit calculus. Because no price is too high to pay for democracy in a heterogeneous polity like ours.