What is all this talk about primary elections in India?

Rahul Gandhi has decided to hold American style primary elections to elect candidates for the 2014 general elections. It’s part of his measures to “open up the system”. He has also been holding meetings with party men and ordinary citizensbefore framing the Congress manifesto. Holding primary elections is another of those measures.

So, how do these primaries work?

In a primary election, as prevalent in the United States of America, the voter casts his or her vote to determine who will go onto the general election. Registered voters affiliated with a given party, in case of US – Democrats and Republican- can go to the polls to cast their vote for their chosen candidate within that party. A candidate has to fight on the election turf with his own party members to reach the next level of election i.e. the national convention and thereafter to the Presidential Election. The process of Primary elections in the US begins almost a year before the Presidential elections. In 2012, the Presidential Elections were held on November 6, 2012. The primaries, however, began in January 2012.

That’s about America. How does the system work for Indian National Congress?

The system works pretty much the same way in the Congress. This is the first time that any party in the country would decide its Lok Sabha candidates through primary elections. According to Congress, “any eligible person satisfying certain clearly laid down requirements shall be accepted as a candidate for these Primaries”. To begin with the candidates should not have any criminal background. The candidate should have held an important position within the Congress at some point of time. However, primaries are open to people from outside the party as well, as long as they are people “of social standing in public service/social cause” and have not been associated with any political party before.

And who elects the candidates?

The candidates will be elected by a “representative section of party workers, leaders and other influencers, satisfying certain criteria”, from the same Lok Sabha constituency as the candidate through a voting process.

What if there is a tie between two candidates?

A simple toss will decide the result of the election in case of a tie.

How is it better than the present ticket distribution system?

Usually there’s a long line of people hoping to receive a ticket. The Congress party has stated that this will make the ticket distribution system “fair and transparent”and will engage more local voices in the election process.

What an idea, Sir-ji.

Well, hopefully this won’t remain just a soch. Although, it is just a pilot run. Of all the 543 Lok Sabha seats only 15 seats have been thrown open for primaries. That’s a meagre 2.7 per cent of the total number of seats. The Congress website shows only 14 constituency names in the final list. These Lok Sabha seats are-  Gauhati (Assam), Bhavnagar(Gujarat), Vadodara(Gujarat), Bangalore North(Karnataka), Dakshina Kannada (Karnataka), Indore(MP), Mandsour(MP), Aurangabad (Maharashtra), YavatmalWashim, (Maharashtra), Bikaner(Rajasthan), Jhunjhunu(Rajasthan), Sant Kabir Nagar(UP),Varanasi (UP), Kolkata Uttar(West Bengal).

What about Amethi and Rae Bareli?

Stop expecting too much.When the Gandhis didn’t offer their seat for the test run of primary elections, no one in the senior leadership seemed amused. In fact, Kapil Sibal’sand KrishnaTirath’sLok Sabha seats had to be struck from the draft list after they protested. Later, however, both changed their minds and offered their seats.

Has any Congress leader expressed joy at their constituency being opened up for primary elections?

Yes. Meenakshi Natarajan from Mandsour constituency is the only MP who has made no noise about her seat being chosen for primary elections. Interestingly, hers is the only seat chosen for primary elections that has a sitting Congress MP. Other than that the Jhunjhunu, a traditional Congress bastion has been lying vacant since the death of Congress MP Sis Ramola, last December. Of the remaining 12 seats, most have BJP sitting MPs and some of them have traditionally been BJP or Shiv Sena strongholds. (See box for details).

So most of the 15 seats chosen for the primaries aren’t politically critical seats for the Congress?

Precisely. A pretty good indication of the reluctance among the senior echelon of the Congress party to embrace this change.

The author can be reached at somi@small-screen.com