India’s general elections have started on April 19. It will continue over six weeks and the results will be announced on June 4. More than 970 million voters – almost three times the entire population of the USA – will elect 543 members of the lower house parliament or Lok Sabha. India is the world’s largest democracy – by size, but how does it fare by quality?
The question is pertinent since constitutionally North Korea is also a democratic country. Democracy is not just arranging a national election periodically to endorse the legitimacy of people in power. The resolution 2002/46 of the UN Commission on Human Rights outlined the essential elements of democracy. These elements include the right to express opinions freely, universal suffrage, a diverse system of political parties and organizations, and an independent and pluralistic media. Apparently, these elements are present in Indian democracy but the real question is to what extent.
Consider the element of independent and pluralistic media. Incidents of harassment and imprisonment of journalists and shutting down of the internet are widespread in the current regime of India. The Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Beh Lih Yi, told The Diplomat that the increasing practice of incarcerating journalists under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in India is deeply concerning. She commented that harassment and intimidation of journalists and media censorship were jeopardizing Indian democracy. The Indian media is also less pluralistic despite its vast size, as Reporters Without Borders found in their study under the Media Ownership Monitor project. Only a handful of companies and conglomerates dominate the media.
India enforced 84 internet shutdowns in 2022, marking the highest tally globally for the fifth consecutive year as reported by Access Now, the global digital rights group. Referencing Access Now’s data, UNESCO voiced apprehension over internet shutdowns by governments and stated that restricting internet access constitutes a violation of human rights.
In the last general elections held in 2019 under the BJP government, there were allegations of a lack of inclusive suffrage. A few months after the election, an article appearing in the Foreign Policy Magazine of the USA estimated that around 120 million citizens were excluded from the voter lists most of whom were Muslims or lower-caste Dalits. The author, Soumya Shankar, a journalist and researcher, remarked that India is frequently praised for being the world’s largest democracy, yet scant notice is paid to the reality that numerous citizens are deprived of the opportunity to cast their votes.
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This article was published in the LinkedIn on May 14, 2024. Please read the full article here or here.