Elections fought between the principal alliances, INDI and NDA, during 2024 were one of the longest, tiresome, irritable and beyond the endurance of the common man. The saga of elections, opinion polls, debates between party spokespersons, exit polls, opinions and discussions among citizens was exacerbated by the vitriol and venom spewed by politicians of all hues.
It was also, probably the first time when misinformation, fake allegations, false narratives aided by deep fake videos and a plethora of impractical and flimsy promises were made to a gullible electorate on a grand scale, albeit by candidates and parties of questionable credibility.
A Dire Need for a Draft Manifesto
This leaves a common citizen wondering whether it is time the entire process of holding elections from the announcement of election schedule, selection of candidates by parties, filing of nominations, holding of rallies, formulating party manifesto, political discourses by parties, press & analysts and political observers, opinion polls, exit polls et al are strictly regulated by a statutory authority with wider and sky high powers than the Central Election Commission (ECI)
Among the various facets of an election mentioned above, the party election manifesto is deemed to be one of the most important documents prepared, circulated and discussed by serious parties contending to fight the elections, especially on a National scale in order to disseminate information on what the party promises to deliver if elected to power.
The party manifesto is nothing short of a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) that is filed by a company with SEBI in order to make a complete disclosure of the organization, its promoters, business and business plans, end-use of proceeds of equity, of the company before it can launch a public offer for sale of shares to prospective investors.
In the same vein, why can't the ECI aided by an economic, legal and financial wing, make it mandatory for all parties to file their Draft Manifesto (DM) with the ECI so as to enable them to go through a rigorous process of vetting the document by ensuring that a thorough due diligence is carried out on the written promises made in the DM. The DM can be set to a standard format as is being made for a DRHP.
Composition of the DM
The DM may mandatorily contain, inter alia,
1) Name of the party, its registered office, past & present office bearers of the party,
2) Material Record of elections contested in the past with results in a prescribed format.
3) Candidates listed to contest the current elections, constituency-wise
4) Background of the candidates, viz age, gender, religion/caste, educational qualifications, experience in business/industry/employment/profession/politics, existence of legal cases/disputes for and against each, Net worth and any other material information/data that could influence the decision of the voter.
5) Core Objectives of the party
6) Ancillary Objectives
7) Other Objectives
8) Elaboration of point (5) in quantitative and qualitative terms with utmost clarity on "Sources and Application" of funds to support the objectives, where financial implications are inevitable. (No conditions applicable, except force majeure)
9) Point (8) certification by a CA/CFA/Management Accountant (who needs to stick his/her neck out in case clarifications, if any, is raised by the ECI.
10) A tentative Implementation Schedule of objectives listed under (5), (6) & (8)
11) An Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) at a nominal percentage of aggregate of "Application of funds" under point (8) (Apart from Election Deposit for each candidate)
12) Risk factors as declared by the party and as advised/perceived by the ECI.
13) Party's perception of the risk factors
14) List of Material documents/certificates/approvals etc
15) List of places/locations/joints where the manifesto is made available in detailed format/abridged format.
16) Party's website uploaded with the complete DM in a downloadable format.
17) A list of PROs with their email IDs, landlines and mobile numbers who can be contacted by voters for clarifications, if any.
18) Name & address and contact coordinates of the Chief Election Coordinator of the party.
Timelines and Review Mechanism
The DM would ideally need to be filed and approved by the ECI at least 30 days before the commencement of elections. Any party leader making any promise beyond the scope of the party's DM will need to be dealt with with punitive action by the ECI, either by suspension of his/her candidature and/or imposing a monetary penalty on the speaker. An abridged version of the DM would be required to be published in a National newspaper of repute.
The party forming the Govt will need to file its performance report card every 6 months with the ECI in the prescribed format, as also advertise the report card in a National newspaper at the cost of the exchequer and upload the same on a website mandated by the ECI.
To Conclude
While the measures detailed above may not be comprehensive and could also suffer from some limitations, I think they lend a more credible process that the electorate can rely on for making a vital decision of their choice in the best interests of a vibrant democracy.
