7th January 2008
No rigging in India
Why is there no rigging in the Indian election? Elections in India, which is seven times the size of Pakistan, are spread over a period of at least one month. Recently in Gujarat, it took the election conducting authorities five days to conduct the elections and count the votes before announcing the result. Theoretically, this should enable heavy rigging, but no losing candidate in India has ever accused the winner of indulging in rigging. The reason, of course, is that the election commissioner and others conducting the elections are scrupulously honest and impartial. The Indian superior judiciary is, by and large, incorruptible, although corruption in the lower courts has been recorded. This should tell us that to make sure that no rigging takes place, we need to have an independent election commissioner. Also, it doesn’t make sense to have both national and provincial elections on the same day, as mistakes can be made in counting the votes under pressure. There is also no need to have holidays during the days elections are being held; people can go and vote anytime during the day. During the flawed referendum that Musharraf held in 2002, I voted during the lunch break, as it was a working day.
SHAKIR LAKHANI
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