This election, forget the candidate’s party, choose wisely

The civic elections are upon us and we see the normal dismal behaviour of those seeking lucrative positions in the power hierarchy scrambling for seats, burning effigies, ransacking their party offices and accusing others in their own parties of favouritism and factionalism.

Meanwhile, all the newspapers try and assess the real woes of citizens. And of these there are plenty. Do you see a disconnect here? Have you heard a single one of the wannabe candidates talk of what they want to do for you? For the ward they will represent?

There are increasingly more times when we need to separate politics, as in screeching abusing party politics, from real development and governance issues. In Gujarat, alas, we still have only two parties to choose from, and there is in fact little to distinguish between them if you scratch the surface. Look at Ahmedabad city. By going into any ward, are you able to tell whether it is run by a Congress or BJP corporator?

Can one say of either party that they have worked for the public selflessly and that they have a clean, efficient ward and satisfied people to show for it? And yet it is precisely at the level of the village, town or city that personal commitment, rising beyond party lines, can be shown the most easily.

A single city ward with about 40,000 people and a fixed budget allocation is easy to manage if one does it with transparency and integrity while involving the people of the ward in democratic decision making. A corporator can divide the ward into areas small enough to hold jansunwais, where s/he can interact with the people to plan development and listen to their woes.

For instance, if a ward were to be divided into ten segments, the corporator would visit each section on a weekly basis, along with the necessary personnel from the roads, waterworks, garbage and other departments. S/he would then present the work that is to be done there and the money allocation for it. A time table would be given and people would be asked to monitor the work.

The corporator would revisit the same block in ten weeks on a rotational basis and would get an assessment of the work, feedback, complaints if any, or be able to go to the next projects. In this way, the corporator and the citizens would be in direct contact with each other, the citizens would know what is being done to their ward to improve it, they would be vigilant for corrupt officials or shoddy work, they would have discussed and prioritised where the budget should go, oversee that the budget  if it is being spent judiciously, and the corporator would have the respect and admiration of the citizens which would ensure their re-election the next time around.

Additionally, this would motivate citizens to be alert and active members of a democracy, leaving behind the “what can we do?” attitude that is today’s greatest malaise.

Is this a dream scenario? Yes and no. A dream scenario yes, but also possible. Under the leadership of Magsaysay award winner and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, an experiment has been underway in Delhi which is yielding huge results. Arvind approached a host of sitting corporators to join this movement. Two accepted, both from different parties.

The change in the attitude of the citizens upon being included into decision making that affected them was so palpable, that soon the corporators’ popularity ratings were zooming. Successful development work was there to be seen. The corporators realised that this was a much better way of ensuring staying in power than the dirt of corruption and thuggery that they had indulged in. You could do good, and be respected. Soon other corporators started approaching Arvind to be included and today there are over two dozen corporators running transparent systems that are actually changing their wards.

Can we not use our votes to bring this change to our cities? Must we still be ruled by empty party rhetoric? Find out if the candidates will do this for you. Forget the symbol they carry. Ask for truth, work, transparency and proof. Then we will have the cities we deserve.