Raghunandan TR Diary: The Vote Splitting Argument

A diary from the wall of Raghunandan TR, former Joint Secretary at Govt of India. 

The vote splitting argument is tediously going on. In all fairness, some of those who accuse the AAP are genuinely concerned about the AAP eating into the vote share of the Congress. They cite their experiences in other states like UP, where various parties have split the anti BJP vote. 

That is a fair enough argument. However, the experience of other States can't be extrapolated to Karnataka wholesale, particularly in the case of the AAP.

Goodwill and AAP: The AAP is a new party, just five years old. Yet, it has been in the field in Karnataka since inception. We have one of the oldest party outfits in this state. The AAP did fight the parliamentary elections in Karnataka, a decision that in retrospect, was a hasty one. Then, in spite of the goodwill that the party had after its second win in Delhi, we did not stand for the Bangalore city corporation elections. This was not liked at all by many people who wished for a change from the usual corrupt politics of the BJP, Congress and the JDS. I too was deeply disappointed with that decision, because I believed we could have made inroads into the 200 member city corporation and shown some good work, simply by getting honest men and women elected to the body, instead of contractors and their proxies, who move from one party to another.

Now, the AAP is standing in selected constituencies alone. 28 seats across Karnataka. These have been carefully selected on two counts; spread of the party and the integrity of the contestants. Even our trenchant critic, Yogendra Yadav has gone on record that the candidates that we have put up are people with integrity and a great track record of public service.

Contrast that with the unseemly scenes of chair throwing and tantrums by the supporters of various aspirants to seats in the BJP, Congress and the JDS and the overnight crossing over and musical chairs by thwarted candidates who did not get their choice of party to contest from.

Tickets on Sale: If you are in Karnataka and if you had your contacts in the political grapevine, the stories of the money paid by various contestants in all parties, to get their seats, runs into at least Rs 5 crore per seat. That money and more, will be extracted in full measure from the people if they get elected, regardless of the party they represent.

AAP Agenda: The AAP is here with a specific agenda. To fight elections honestly, to show to people the track record in education, health, power and water supply and infrastructure creation, what an honest government is capable of doing in Delhi, and then, on the basis of that track record, to ask people whether they could trust us with their vote. We show people our plans for what we will do when we get power.

The Plan: Our plan is for overall development regardless of the identity of each voter. While still taking special care to protect the constitutional rights of the minorities and the downtrodden. We believe that if a party fields honest candidates and government inefficiency in tax collection and implementation of programmes is curbed, there is enough money to satisfy every deprived need of every section of the people.

We repeat that point. Patiently, from house to house.

Vote, splitting does not cross our minds. We are here to fight elections on our own merit. We walk into so called BJP and Congress strongholds and vote banks where the other party does not venture. We must have visited at least 30000 plus houses, on a very conservative estimate, in Shanthinagar alone.

Of course, there are vote splitters galore. For example, one new political outfit, which claims to focus on Mahila empowerment, has put up mostly male candidates in all 223 constituencies and is pouring money into their campaign. Many independents are there in all the seats, including party rebels from all parties, whose only intention is to reduce the vote shares of other parties.

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