There is no tell-tale ink blot on my finger when I look down as I write. This indicates that I have not voted. But it would be more accurate to say that I have not been allowed to exercise my franchise. And therein lies a tale. I shifted to a new apartment nineteen months ago. While less than a kilometre from the old flat as the crow flies, the two are in different assembly constituencies. According to the Election Commission’s website, “The electoral roll is normally revised every year to add the names of those who are to turn 18 on the 1st January of that year or have moved into a constituency.The updating of the Electoral Roll only stops during an election campaign, after the nominations for candidates have closed.” So did anyone come over to check? You have got to be kidding! Never mind, I managed to navigate my way through the Election Commission’s website, find the requisite application form, fill it up, and send it off. Alas, there was no way of finding out whether I was successful. While the website promises the “Electoral Rolls for 16 Major Cities”, the country’s capital, Delhi — surprisingly — is not one of them. All the site says is that the “Updated list of delhi [sic] electoral rolls will be available shortly”. Come Election Day, I trudge off to the voting station only to find that my name was not there. And so, for the first time since 1977, I could not vote. The disappearance of my name in the post-Emergency polls was an act of malice, pure and simple. (Scores of journalists found they had been disenfranchised.) This time, I suspect, it’s nothing more serious than shoddiness. After all, there was a goof-up involving the chief minister herself. And as readers doubtless remember, this newspaper reported that Subhash Chopra, a sitting MLA in the dissolved Delhi assembly, found himself in the same state as I was. The Delhi assembly elections were held as per schedule, giving the Election Commission ample opportunity to update the rolls. It has obviously mucked up. So pardon me if the chief election commissioner’s excuse for delaying the Andhra Pradesh assembly polls — “updating the rolls” — produces only a derisive hoot. If the Election Commission couldn’t do its job in a relatively compact place like Delhi, who but J.M. Lyngdoh’s most devoted acolytes shall believe that the system can work any better in sprawling Andhra Pradesh? To paraphrase a noble quote: Never in the field of electoral conflict have so many so warmly applauded such incompetence! Shoddiness and delayed decisions seem to be the flavour of the season. Look no farther than 10, Janpath, whose chatelaine seems bent on setting some sort of record for silly behaviour. Win or lose, the elections to the five assemblies had little to do with Sonia Gandhi. If Digvijay Singh loses it may even rebound in her favour by removing a potential rival. (I would be very worried if I were S.M. Krishna!) But the quagmire in Kerala has much to do with Sonia Gandhi’s pusillanimity. I understand that Chief Minister A.K. Antony was prepared to challenge his tormentor-in-chief, K. Karunakaran, on the floor of the Assembly. He was prevented by Sonia Gandhi’s direct intervention. But the methods she chose in staving off a confrontation leave one wondering what future the Congress (I) has in Kerala. After all, can one respect a party that claims to be India’s oldest, yet begs favours from the Muslim League and even the CPI(M)? The Muslim League is nothing but a glorified regional party even if its official title has “Indian Union” as a prefix. It has a strength of two in the Lok Sabha, and can make it three at best. It is plagued by the familiar Kerala disease of factionalism. Finally, the League has no choice but to go with the Congress (I) ever since the Marxists rejected any alliance back in the days of E.M.S. Namboodaripad. (Believe it or not, roughly 79 per cent of the Left Democratic Front’s votes come courtesy Hindus; the CPI(M) fears that any overtures to the League will throw a chunk of these voters to the Bharatiya Janata Party!) So what possessed Sonia Gandhi to genuflect before the Muslim League, begging it not to leave the Congress camp? Where did she think it could go anyway? One bitter remark heard at Congress (I) headquarters has it that E. Ahmed (a Muslim League leader who is currently in Parliament) has greater access to Sonia Gandhi than Ahmed Patel (the Congress functionary nominally in charge of overseeing Kerala). Sadly, it is not a joke. The Muslim League is an ally. But the Marxists are open foes in Kerala. Or are they? Forty-eight hours before Karunakaran’s deadline, Sonia Gandhi was at Somnath Chatterjee’s door. Neither will talk publicly of what transpired, but the grapevine has it that the Congress (I) president begged the veteran Marxist to ask his comrades in Kerala to go slow on supporting Karunakaran. In effect, Sonia Gandhi has signed over Kerala to the Muslim League and the CPI(M). She has confessed that she cannot do without them. Does anyone believe that they will not demand a price for their support? Or that this bill must be paid in the form of Lok Sabha seats come the General Election? Democracy demands an efficient Election Commission and an effective Opposition. The lethargy of the first disenfranchised me; the second’s cowardice has deprived my home state of any real choice at the polls. In what words do I thank them?
