While the political parties and those who believe in democracy remain preoccupied with the intricate calculations and strategic manoeuvring surrounding the Assembly elections in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, there unfolds another electoral narrative that demands the nation's solemn introspection. It concerns the local body elections in Gujarat, the home turf of both the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister, who grace campaign trails elsewhere to preach the virtues of democracy and the necessity of establishing good governance. As heralded by media headlines, the process by which the BJP swept to victory is so fundamentally flawed that to dignify it with the term ‘election’ would be a misnomer in the truest sense of the word.
In the electoral exercise intended to elect representatives and governing bodies across 15 corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats, and 260 taluk panchayats, a staggering 1,572 candidates withdrew their nominations at the eleventh hour. Consequently, some 730 individuals were declared elected unopposed. While the withdrawal of nominations and uncontested victories are not entirely alien to the democratic process, the events that transpired in Gujarat were far from ordinary. In the capital city of Ahmedabad, numerous candidates who had filed papers for the municipal corporation were met with threats and inducements. Bina Modi, a female candidate, was offered a sum of 30 lakh rupees to withdraw. Another Congress candidate, Nehal Panchal, was issued a grim warning by BJP workers: “Withdraw, or your fate shall be to travel only by stretcher". While many, fearing for their lives or swayed by financial allure, recoiled to the safety of their homes after withdrawing their candidature, the woman sought refuge in the party office with her two children, haunted by the dread that adversaries might storm her residence. So grave was the situation that opposition parties were compelled to keep their candidates in resorts, as is often done to protect MPs and MLAs from the shadows of defection.
One might have been tempted to dismiss these incidents as the wayward mischief of local cadres, unknown to the higher echelons of power, were it not for the brazen conduct of Mitesh Ramesh Bhai Patel, the Member of Parliament for the Anand constituency, who, on a public platform, intimidated the electorate by vowing that, should a Congress candidate emerge victorious, every rupee of block development funding would be denied. Despite this ultimatum having been delivered in the very presence of the State’s Deputy Chief Minister, Harsh Sanghavi, and notwithstanding the subsequent formal complaints lodged with the Election Commission, no action has been taken. The Congress party alleged a systemic collapse of neutrality, asserting that, under intense political duress, several municipal authorities had summarily rejected the nomination papers of their candidates without just cause.
Beyond the application of threats and inducements to clear the field of rivals, Gujarat also employs an official mechanism designed to bypass the ballot box under the guise of “harmony.” This initiative, conceived during Narendra Modi’s tenure as Chief Minister, dictates that if a village unanimously elects its Sarpanch and panchayat members, elections are cancelled. The village is then christened a Samras Gram and rewarded with a government development grant ranging from three to 13 lakh rupees. While such a scheme may sound commendable at first hearing, its underlying agenda is far more sinister. Beneath the grand proclamations of unity and progress lies a calculated strategy to consolidate the hegemony of the upper castes. Madhusudan Bandi of the Gujarat Institute of Development Research, having studied the phenomenon, observes that, as the affluent and high-born seize the reins of power, Dalits and backward communities find themselves systematically disempowered. Despite government assertions that the scheme prioritises women, critics argue that it merely serves to entrench patriarchal dynasties; women from wealthy and influential families become figureheads via nominations to ensure that power remains within their domestic sphere. It is this very model that upper-class-dominated parties seemingly wish to replicate through parliamentary reservations for women.
As many developmental projects require the formal assent of village councils, industrial conglomerates are increasingly exerting their influence to install hand-picked loyalists in panchayat administrations, bypassing both opposition and the ballot box to ensure that their commercial interests remain shielded. Such “unanimous” selections stand in direct violation of the spirit of decentralisation envisioned by the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments. Should this “Gujarat Model,” like so many other regressive precedents, be adopted by other BJP-ruled states, the ideals of Gram Swaraj and local self-governance will be totally subverted across the nation. With an Election Commission appearing to provide its silent benediction to these manoeuvres, the path is being cleared for the systematic dismantling of democratic contests, executed without so much as a whisper of resistance.