The Way We Conduct Elections In Our Country - Mainstream Weekly

The Way We Conduct Elections In Our Country - Mainstream Weekly: "The presence of the police in India, far from giving a sense of security to voters, lends a sense of insecurity by raising apprehension of an imminent threat to peace. That is the way the police is regarded in India as the external symbols of a disturbed situation. Elections ought to be surrounded by a spirit of bonhomie between the bitterest rivals who fight their electoral war peacefully. The presence of the police force fails to create this image.
Never, even in the first election in the country, still embittered by the memory of the partition and its horrific carnage, was the deployment of force so heavy. The deployment has got heavier with each election with a growing trend to induct muscle men to rig polls, earlier rigged by bogus votes of absentee voters and use of guns and bombs to disturb elections.But the way to tackle it is by effective preventive action like preventive rounding up and by surprise raids on suspects before polls, regardless of party affiliation"