On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 12:11 PM, Zainab Bawa <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, Apr 25, 2009 at 2:51 PM, Venkat Mangudi <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Vinayak Hegde wrote: >> Some people I know are of the opinion that there are corrupt officials >> who work with the politicians and delete the names if they suspect that >> the votes are going to their opponent. His argument seemed plausible, >> but I do not buy it. Has anyone else heard such stuff? Is this true? >> > > It is true. I have come across both studies as well as experiences from > friends and family members contesting elections at different levels > indicating that this is indeed does take place. Electoral rolls are a very > powerful political tool. They have been systematically used during the > anti-Sikh riots as well during the 1992-1993 riots in Bombay to mark Sikhs > and minorities respectively and launch targeted attacks. > > It is also true that parties field candidates with names sounding similar to > those of other candidates who are contesting from the same constituency but > from different parties, in order to confound voters. Sometimes, voters in a > particular constituency field candidates among themselves in order to eat > into the vote shares of the popular candidates. These behaviours, among many > others, are known as tactical voting. > > > >> > I have stopped reading mainstream newspapers as all they look for >> nowadays >> > is a good "story" - truth be damned. Sad but true. >> > > I was also extremely sceptical when I read the first report in The Hindu, > wondering whether this was an act of sensationalizing. I am trying to > contact the reporters who have done these stories to verify as well as to > get a more nuanced understanding. But I agree with Biju's comment that given > the current political atmosphere and the polarizations that mark both our > polity and our mindsets, it becomes difficult to ignore these reports as > mere instances of sensationalism and victim-hood. It would help to > investigate more and challenge our own beliefs and assumptions.
Quoting in full to point out that the first para (which mentions Vinayak Hegde wrote: ) were not made by me but Venkat. I think the email client has not quoted properly (The email equivalent of putting words "into my mouth" heh :) As with any system, the democratic system has been gamed by unscrupulous elements. Vote-bank politics is one way. Another way is Gerrymandering[1] (which is a toponym[2]) which as been around for more than a century) US has a long history of this - a recent sample[3] , in fact as long as electoral system itself. I will be interested if anyone can point out if gerrymandering has happened in India. EC took a stand against dummy candidates recently[4]. On a tangential note, since exit polls were banned I was surprised to see NDTV use bookie odds to predict the winner (Not surprisingly they showed a congress victory - case of cherrypicking data knowing their congress-biased reporting) more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_malpractice -- Vinayak 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_derived_from_toponyms 3. http://www.slate.com/id/2208216/ 4. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4357117.cms
