Meet the real winner of election 2011: SY Quraishi

Tomorrow, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will see change that ranges from the historic to the routine. The results will vindicate some reputations, leave others in tatters and pitchfork some formidable careers at  political crossroads. Once the EVMs (electronic voting machines) disgorge the choices people have made, some political outlooks may experience death throes. As the spotlight gets ready to shift to the winners, there’s someone who has already made it past the winning post: Chief Election Commissioner Dr SY Quraishi. Consider this. Voters in the five states came out in all-time, record-breaking highs. If Kerala saw a 75 percent turnout, West Bengal led with a little over 84 percent of its electorate coming out to drive change. The figures are significant in themselves but take on a different dimension because it comes at a time when many have taken to the streets to protest against corrupt and ineffective elected representatives. Also the elections have been peaceful — almost surprisingly so in West Bengal — and seen a crackdown on the use of money in Tamil Nadu while being scrupulously fair and efficient everywhere else. So no matter who wins on May 13, the redoubtable Election Commission of India led by the affable Quraishi, tops that list! Quraishi has been in the Election Commission since 2006, but he still marvels at the scale and complexity of the job, preparations for which have to begin nearly a year in advance. He credits the large numbers of voters who braved the scorching summer of 2011, in large part to confidence building measures (the effective deployment of security forces) and to what he calls facilitation measures (the EC has started distributing voter slips with polling details since the 2010 Bihar elections). But social marketing is what he believes really did the trick. A voter education division was set up last year and detailed studies conducted on the reasons for people’s behaviour, especially in areas where turnout had been low. To find out whether it was cynicism or indifference and how each of these could be countered. Also specific steps were taken to target the new 18-year-olds, who are in any case the future custodians of India’s precious democracy. His career-long enthusiasm for what social marketing can deliver (his PhD thesis was on the role of communications and social marketing in the development of women and children) will put expert marketers to shame. And it doesn’t end there. Quraishi believes that it’s not just about getting people to vote, it’s about getting them to believe that the Election Commission cares about their vote. To do that his team, starting with him and going down to polling booths in the farthest areas, were on call and responded promptly to every complaint and suggestion that came their way. Quraishi says that he would himself get between 200 and 300 emails daily. These assembly elections have boosted his optimism about India’s democracy. He believes that the civil society movement against corruption should serve as a wakeup call and galvanise the government and political parties to finally enact the electoral reforms that have been debated and discussed for nearly two decades now. He’s clear that while a strong and effective Lok Pal will punish the corrupt, it is electoral reforms that will attack corruption at its root. He is expecting the consultation process initiated by Law Minister Veerappa Moily to reach its logical conclusion after the results of these assembly elections are announced. But speed will be of essence here, as pretty soon the Election Commission will need to gear up for the next set of elections in 2012. Quraishi is conscious that in the current environment even constitutional authorities like the Election Commissioners may be called on to prove their personal honesty. In response to a recent RTI application questioning his property assets, he says that even though a constitutional authority, unlike a bureaucrat which he has been for 35 years, is not expected to show his returns, he and his fellow election commissioners welcome the public scrutiny and are planning to post their assets on the Election Commission’s website. On the other hand, Quraishi believes that a multi-member election commission, started during the confrontational and controversial tenure of TN Seshan in the early nineties, has ensured the commission’s political neutrality and integrity. A fact that was proved in 2008-2009, when despite the acrimonious and politically motivated fights between his predecessors and colleagues N Gopalaswami and Navin Chawla, the Commission continued to conduct elections efficiently. At that time, Quraishi had admitted that it was awkward and embarrassing for the Election Commission, but he was pretty clear that the law and a subsequent Supreme Court judgment were both unequivocal, that the three election commissioners were on par and the CEC didn’t have the power to recommend the dismissal of the other two. The only extra edge the Chief Election Commissioner had was the right to chair meetings. The only reason the doubt persists, Quraishi believes, is because the constitutional amendment required to formalise this has not been enacted. Two years on, it’s still not done, but the Election Commission has been a more peaceful place. How much that has to do with the Chief Election Commissioner’s easygoing manner, only his colleagues can tell. Every time I meet Quraishi I am struck by his good cheer and the very breezy way in which he puts across what he thinks of weighty issues. His enthusiasm for his job is surpassed only by his abiding passion for music. Quraishi is a skilled keyboardist but these days he’s trying his hand at mastering the guitar. If you are lucky, when you visit, you may get to hear India’s Chief Election Commissioner play some very sweet music