Page 165 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

In the end, I would like to say that the relationship between India and Pakistan is very strained and
Pakistan is resorting to all kinds of cowardly means to destabilize India. Each time several hundred
innocent civilians die due to terrorist attacks and the resultant situation is not at all conducive to any
healthy talks. Pakistan must stop this and try to resolve the issues through bilateral talks and only then
the South-East Asian region can be stable and prosper.

Thank you.

Electoral Reforms (High Level Topic)

Respected GTO Sir, and my dear friends,

A very good morning to all of you. I have chosen to speak on Electoral Reforms in India as this is a
very important subject for all of us. I will be covering this topic in four parts namely, introduction,
problems in the electoral process, recent developments and conclusion.

Coming to Introduction, every one in India can be proud of its democracy, with all its flaws for
surviving for so many years. Our periodic elections have been hailed abroad as the largest of its kind
in the world. But there is growing realization that we could have achieved more if only we had
leaders who subordinated their personal interests for the larger good of the country. The kind of

leadership we had immediately after independence is nowhere to be found now. If the great leaders of
the past underwent prison sentence for fighting British imperialism, the politicians in recent times
were convicted because of corruption and involvement in criminal cases.

With regard to specific problems in our electoral process, there is a growing awareness among the
people that the dishonest and corrupt politicians working in league with corrupt bureaucrats are
responsible for the all round mess in every walk of life. Booth capturing has been the common feature

during polling in some of the states like Bihar and UP. The kind of tantrums we get to see in the
parliament and some of the state assemblies tarnish our image as the largest democracy in the world.
The criminalization of politics is not confined to Bihar and UP alone. Over 600 candidates with
criminal cases registered against them in various courts have been chosen as MPs and MLAs. This
gory record might be more in case of Panchayats. The rising tide of violence and the extravagant
expenditure during election time make political mandate a mockery of democracy. ‘Kissa Kursika’
remains the only agenda for most of our politicians, and hence they change sides every now and then

as defection is the best way to remain in power. Almost every politician is loyal to the self and not to
the country or the people who have elected him. Whenever there is a hung assembly cut-throat horse
trading becomes the order of the day. The Supreme Court has said that a voter has a fundamental right
to know the antecedents of a candidate. It said that a much improved electoral system was required to
make election process both transparent and accountable so that the influence of tainted money and
physical force of criminals do not make democracy a farce. It is no secret that elections are fought

with the help of money power which is gathered from black sources and when elected to power it
becomes easier to collect tons of money which is used to retain power and for reelection.

Coming to recent developments, the credit for sincerely attempting to cleanse the political system