Political economist Parakala Prabhakar on Sunday advocated the adoption of an electoral system of proportional representation for the Indian Republic, which is gearing up for its 76th year of Independence.
‘’The Indian democracy is experiencing a slow death. Our economy is in doldrums, thanks to weakening of the rupee. Secularism is in tatters as the country moves away from the cherished values enshrined in the Constitution preamble under the present dispensation at the Centre,” he observed while taking part in the centenary celebrations of CPI veteran G. Yelamanda Reddy’s birth, here on Sunday.
Highlighting the advantages of proportional representation, he said democracy had been vitiated under the present first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, with money power ruling the roost.
“Democracy is not just about a government getting voted to power once in five years. It is all about running a government through discussion. It is unfortunate [that] no meaningful discussion took place on policy issues in Parliament,” he contended. He cited the example of the three controversial Farm Bills passed in the August House in no time. In the same manner, they were withdrawn by the Narendra Modi government without any meaningful debate in Parliament, he added.
The present BJP-led government at the Centre came to power under the FPTP electoral system with a vote share of only 38%. In other words, 62% of the voters had not sided with the BJP, he observed, arguing that for that matter, all the previous goverments, including the one headed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, did not come to power with the backing of a majority vote share.
Call for electoral reforms
Calling for the implementation of the Indrajit Committee report on electoral reforms, including State-funding of elections, CPI national secretary Binoy Viswam said voters should also be empowered with the right to recall a non-performing MP or an MLA midway through the five-year term. Under the present FPTP system, a very few from the mass organisations are able to make it to Parliament, which has largely been turned into a House ‘‘of the rich, by the rich and for the rich’‘, he charged.
Dr. G. Ravindra Reddy, son of the late Yelamanda Reddy, who had settled in Germany, explained how the proportional representation system worked in that country.
