Page 40 - Leap of Faith Vol - 2

Leap of Faith Journey of Indian Elections

the rich and industrialised na ons of the West, whose
“ “ democra sa on. Firstly, even when the number of
Adult suffrage is not a new thing, as imagined by some of our friends,
popula on enjoyed a high standard of educa on.
handed down to us by Great Britain. Adult suffrage you will find
The end of World War II did not automa cally boost re-
inscribed on the stone walls of a temple in the village of Uttaramerur
twenty miles from Conjeeveram,— the whole structure of democracy
democracies went up three fold to 36 by 1962, a reverse
of those days just a thousand years ago,—many of us imagine that it is
wave (1960-75) caught up soon to reduce their number
Great Britain that has given us the democratic process of election; that
to 30. Secondly, victory in World War II gave the USSR a
is not so. You will find on the stone walls of that temple written in the
historic opportunity to extend Communism in Eastern
Tamil language an inscription to the effect that there was democratic
Europe. Thirdly, establishment of Communist regime in
election carried on then on the basis of adult suffrage a thousand years
ago. There was adult suffrage as stated there. There were no wooden
na on coming under one party rule. John Foster Dulles,
boxes which could be used as ballot boxes, but cadjan leaves were used
US Secretary of State, was alarmed at Communism
extending control over 700,000,000 people or about
as ballot papers and pots as ballot boxes. That is the way in which they China on October 1, 1949 resulted in the world's largest
carried on the administration of the country, even in the villages. one-third of the human race. Therefore, the significance
of India adop ng and preserving democracy, in Cold War
T. Praksham (Madras, General) situa on, can hardly be overemphasised. It resulted in a
Constituent Assembly Debates July 23, 1947
popula on size of 365 million (or 36.5 cr) people
approximately (Census of India, 1951) –one-sixth of
humankind- being covered by universal adult suffrage.
or on the morrow of the signing of the Cons tu on. It This was no mean achievement if one shared Dulles'
was also the eve of India's first Republic Day.
perspec ve that 700 million (i.e. 70 cr) or one third of
India commi ed herself to the world's biggest democra c humankind have passed under Communist hegemony.
experiment by making adult suffrage the basis of elec ons India kept the free world intact by adop ng a democra c
to the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and Legisla ve form of governance. India, however, stoutly refused to be
Assemblies (Vidhan Sabha) under Ar cle 326 of the part of any power bloc, even in the name of democracy,
Cons tu on. This might appear commonplace today and was more commi ed to furthering the process of
when the number of full-fledged democracies in the world decolonisa on in Asia and Africa.
stand at 104 (IDEA-GSoD, 2022). However, at the end of Chief Election Commissioner takes charge
World War II, there were only around a dozen of them. The
number of democracies had con nued to increase Even as Elec on Commission of India was established on
throughout the nineteenth century, peaking at 29 in 1926. January 25, 1950, it was on March 6 that Sukumar Sen, ICS,
This was followed by the crisis of global capitalism (the was appointed as the first Chief Elec on Commissioner. He
Great Depression) that began to undermine faith in was the serving Chief Secretary of West Bengal, and thus
parliaments, markets and interna onal trade. The rise of assumed his new office on March 21, 1950. The First
authoritarian regimes in Europe reduced the number of General Elec ons to the central and state legislatures had
democracies to 12 by 1942. These were mostly confined to originally been planned for 1950. On January 8, 1949 the

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