Basantipur Times: Policy Document 2012 Prepared and published by: The Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India (CERI)

Monday, January 14, 2013

Policy Document 2012 Prepared and published by: The Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India (CERI)

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Policy Document

2012

Prepared and published by:

The Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India (CERI)

REDS Road

Shanthinagar

Tumkur 572102

Karnataka

Email: ceri.reds@gmail.com

Website: www.ceri.in

(0)9845144893

February 2012INTRODUCTION

Electoral Reforms in India has come to be equated with tinkering

with the existing First Past the Post system (FPTP). Quite good

efforts are being made to prune the existing systems of all unwanted

growth and make it more presentable and acceptable by the general

citizens of India. While such endeavours are greatly laudable it is

necessary to realize that they fall short of reaching the goals of

democratic governance in a country like India. It is common

knowledge that India as a country is a complex reality. It is

recognized that there are legitimate strains of governing India in

the most acceptable way with all the societal foundations of caste,

religion, languages and cultures. Simultaneously it must be also

recognized that much of the present constraints of governance can

be overcome if appropriate systems and structures are put in place

at the right time. For example, India arrived at an era of coalition

politics long ago and yet we are sticking on to the FPTP system

despite sporadic suggestions for ushering in proportional

representation system.

In the global scenario, countries that have arrived at coalition politics

and that are more concerned about inclusive representation of their

citizens in mechanisms of governance have already shifted to

proportional representation system. It is significant to note that

multicultural societies, irrespective of being in Europe, Africa and

Latin America have been spearheading the change to PR system.

This is done precisely because such countries have an avowed

purpose of ushering in inclusion of indigenous communities,

minorities of all kinds, immigrants and women in their representative

governance. It is common knowledge that Proportional

Representation system enhancing participatory and inclusive

democracy also reduces instability, corruption, violence and fascism.

It goes without saying that for a country like India, with all sorts of

fundamentalism, casteism, communalism, corruption, violence etc.

PR system will be the most appropriate electoral system.

Simultaneously we must add a caution that an electoral system is

not a panacea for all the problems that country faces. It is only one

but one of the most significant instruments in representative

democratic governance.

The Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India (CERI) is convinced

that it is high time to have proportional representation system as an

electoral system in India. Such a conviction has come about not by

any fancied wish but as a consequence of serious researches on

the electoral systems of countries that have recognized strengths

of inclusive representation and governance. CERI has gathered

cross-current thinking and opinions from the India academia,

intelligentsia, civil and political leadership and citizens in order to

arrive at this conviction. Having been convinced of the deep longing

within India for substantive changes in the Indian representation

system, CERI decided to bring together as many experts on electoral

systems as possible. Top-level experts from different countries put

their heads together intensively for three days going often into night

discussions and have come out with what is now known as 'Berlin

Statement'.

It is time that the issue of representation is taken up in the Parliament

of India for serious deliberations. It is heartening to note that the

Parliament is already informed by some members of the immediate

need to shift to proportional representation system. CERI believes

that it is ultimately either the Parliament or the Election Commission

of India that will have to take the final call on this very important

issue of proportional representation in India. In order to facilitate

further deliberations within and outside of the Parliament CERI

decided to transform the Berlin Statement into a policy document

so that it can lay the foundations for substantive discussions at all

levels in India. In the event of the Parliament of India setting up a

parliamentary committee to further work on this issue or delegating

the responsibility to the Election Commission of India, we are sure

this policy document will be an easy tool in their hands.

It is also imperative that the Indian public and political leadership

becomes aware of the intricate dimensions of proportional

representation so that a mature awareness is arrived at in the course

of reforms that the governments may bring about in due course of

3 45 6

time. An informed public is a great asset to any democracy. We

wish more and more people begin to discuss the issue threadbare

without fear and take up the question of proportional representation

in India at all levels.

CERI is highly grateful to all those who have evinced great interest

in this cause of democratization of India and in bringing about an

inclusive governance in the country. CERI thanks all her state

coordinators who have worked assiduously on a voluntary basis

despite their other engagements with energy consuming issues.

CERI likes to thank in a special way all the experts of electoral

systems who gathered in Berlin in order to arrive at objective

positions on the most suitable form of proportional representation

for India. CERI also thanks all her national and international

supporters in carrying this great cause of democracy forward.

M C Raj

Founder - CERI

Message from Dr. Arend Lijphart

Workshop of Electoral Systems Experts,

Berlin,17-19 October 2011

"The basic argument is that India is a plural (deeply divided) society and that, like all such societies, it needs elections that have

proportional outcomes. Such results can be obtained without PR;

in fact, during the time of Congress hegemony, there was a large

degree of proportionality because of the inclusiveness of the Congress party. Reserved seats also help. But "proportionality without

PR" tends to be imperfect and has lots of other disadvantages (as

I state on pp. 39-40 of my 2007chapter). My advice is that, if you

want proportionality in election outcomes, then use PR. I would

give this advice to India and all other plural societies. The only further advice I would give, because there are so many forms of PR,

choose a PR system that is simple and straightforward. Don't be

too much of a PR "perfectionist"! - Arend

Research Professor Emeritus of Political Science

Department of Political Science, 0521

University of California, San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive

La Jolla, CA 92093-0521, USAProportional Electoral System

for India

A Policy Document

1. Preamble

India is recognized as one of the largest democracies in the world.

From the time of enlightenment democracy has gone through a

metamorphosis. One of the latest that is in circulation is about

Consociational democracy. Simultaneously different other versions

of democracy such as deliberative democracy, dialectic democracy,

colonial democracy etc. have been floated in the recent past. India

has derived its democracy from the representative model. More and

more countries have taken up the task of making their democracies

more meaningful to and inclusive of their citizens. One also witnesses

concomitantly strenuous efforts by dominant forces to twist

democratic institutions to suit their agenda, either hidden or explicit.

One of the essential institutions of representative democracy is

electoral system. Nation States, as they have emerged over a period

of many centuries can only afford to be governed through a

representative system. Different countries of the world have adapted

different types of electoral systems to address the representative

character of their democracies. It is also recognized by scholars

that an electoral system is the democratic institution that may more

or less easily be manipulated, dependent on the system chosen. In

the postmodern period one witnesses both the efforts being taken at

different levels. One set of countries constantly keeps revisiting their

electoral system to usher in more inclusive, stable and efficient

governance to their citizens. Another set of countries either maintains

their electoral system untouched or change it in such a way that it

will serve their dominant designs of governance.

India's electoral system has remained largely untouched in the more

than 65 years of her post British democratic governance. However,

it must be recognized that different voices have been sounded every

now and then towards changing the electoral system of India to

make it more inclusive and relevant to the changing needs of time,

starting from the very formation of India's constitution. There were

prolonged arguments in the Constituent Assembly for and against a

proportional electoral system as against the British form of the First

Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system. Finally FPTP was adopted

in preference to a system of proportional representation (PR) mainly

because of the low level of literacy in India. It was assumed that

FPTP was comparatively simpler to understand and more pragmatic

in a country that had only 15% of literacy at the time of writing the

Constitution. At present the rate of literacy in India is estimated to

be more than 65%. Subsequently the Indian National Law

Commission has made a clear recommendation of the German

model of proportional representation electoral system for India in its

1999 report. Every now and then different members of the Parliament

of India have been raising the issue of proportional representation as

a possible way forward for governance in India without the present

levels of corruption, violence, communalism and casteism. The

Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India (CERI) has been vigorously

spearheading the recent efforts to bring about proportionate electoral

system in India in the place of the present FPTP system.

2. The Rationale of the Campaign

Nation Building was and has still been one of the predominant

concerns of subsequent governments and civil society actors in

the post-British India. In all nation building endeavour two significant

dimensions have been stressed. One is external to the nation and is

anticipated from beyond the geographical boundaries. The other is

internal to the nation. In as much as a nation is internally strong it

can also face external threats effectively. Stable governments are

necessary prerequisites to meet both these dimensions efficiently.

Systems and structures, Instruments and mechanisms of governance

are inalienable ingredients in internally building up a nation. The

electoral system plays a crucial role in providing stable governments

in modern and postmodern nation states. On one hand a plurality

based system, which gives the biggest party over-representation

7 8and therefore a 'ruling bonus' may be said to be of support of stable

governments. However, in India with the strong role of regional parties

this effect is much smaller than in countries like the UK. More

important is that a nation state with India's complexity in the

composition of its peoples that fails to establish an inclusive

democratic governance and a congruent electoral system is bound

to be weakened internally and this in turn will inevitably result in

governments taking recourse to strong-arm tactics for containing

intermittent citizen unrest and protests. Hence the dire need to make

sure that inclusive electoral system and subsequently inclusive

governance are set up in building up a strong nation. It is such a

nation that is internally strong that will be able to face external threats

in whatever forms they arrive.

It is recognized that FPTP will make countries develop into a two

party democracy since smaller parties will have big problems in

winning seats. Some parties with strong local support will, however,

be able to take the role of a big party locally and when adding up

there may, as the case is in India, be a large variety of parties in

parliament. Even in such countries which have a two party system

efforts are often being made to usher in proportional representation

in order to ensure representation of multiple interest groups. One

recognizes that it is a multicultural society, which is in need of very

special measures for democratic governance. The complex reality

of Indian State makes it difficult even for experts to develop a clear

understanding of the undercurrents that guide its destiny. The praxis

of the First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system in India has

further accentuated the intricacies of its governance. The international

workshop of electoral systems experts, held in Berlin between 17

and 19 of October 2011 recognizes that the FPTP electoral system,

vogue in India, is a legacy borrowed from the British. India has come

a long way in its political life from the time it got independence from

the British. It is now emerging as a major player in the global

economic scenario. However, the representative character of its

democratic governance leaves much to be desired in terms of the

results it produces for more than a billion of its people.

3. Mixed Member Proportional System (MMP)

Politically speaking India has arrived at an era of coalition politics.

Being a multicultural society it is only natural that it arrived at an era

of coalition politics. One may not see a reversal of this coalition

politics in the near future. In this changed scenario India's present

electoral system has rendered itself irrelevant. Most of the ills that

are consequent to an effort to fit an irrelevant electoral system to a

fast changing society are being witnessed in Indian society as well

as in Indian mechanisms of governance. India, with its multi-party

system and coalition politics is in dire need of changing its electoral

system to a more relevant and inclusive representative system that

also addresses the needs of coalition politics in a multicultural

society.

This workshop of electoral systems experts, after due diligence on

complex realities of Indian democratic governance has come to

the conclusion that the Mixed Member Proportional Representation

System with two votes per voter will address better the changing

needs of Indian democracy. It must be recognized that most inclusive

democracies in the world have already shifted their electoral system

to one or other form of proportionate electoral system. In order to

make democracy in such a huge multicultural society as inclusive

as possible it is also recommended that India adapted MMP with a

ratio of 30% FPTP seats elected from single-member constituencies

and 70% party list seats (list PR). The Constitution of India has

recommended direct elections to the parliament. It must be noted

that list proportional representation system is direct elections with a

high degree of accountability if it is implemented according to the

spirit and letter of the constitution. Bringing in MMP will not be a

total departure from the past electoral praxis in India while at the

same time it will integrate to a large extent proportionality in

representation. Any democratic transition has to be wrought with

extreme caution without completely breaking the past practices.

This will continue till the citizens of India are in a position to choose

a full PR system.

Mixed Member Proportional Systems are proportional systems

9 10because here all votes in all constituencies are summed up on a

higher, usually national, level and then are transformed into

parliamentary seats. The List PR vote decides the political

composition of all seats in parliament to be in proportion to the

votes, not only the 70% of the seats elected under the List PR

system. The 70 % of the seats are used as compensatory seats in

such a way that a party which is underrepresented in the FPTP part

of the election is compensated in the List PR part and the result is

fully proportional in the end.

The other feature is that with the List PR component of the election

it is much easier to make the parliament truly inclusive with genuine

representation of all groups of the society, both without and with

particular rules for reservation of seats.

4. Party List System

Reflecting on the most appropriate vote system, which is a significant

dimension of any electoral system this workshop of electoral

systems experts has arrived at a consensus taking into consideration

the predominant view of Indian delegates present that it will be good

for India to adopt the two vote system with closed party list as against

open party list system. There is an introduction of three significant

new dimensions in the electoral system of India.

 Party List system. This will mean that 70% of the parliamentary

seats in India will be elected by the voters casting their votes

to a political party of their choice and for a particular candidate.

Each political party will prepare a list of its possible candidates

as to enter into the parliament in an order of priority. This list

will be submitted to the Election Commission of India before

every election and will be made known to voters. It will be

possible for voters to identify which candidate possibly

represents which constituency. Depending on the percentage

of votes that a party gains in a given election it will be able to

send that many and only that many candidates from its list

into the Parliament. Let us assume that there are 1000

members in the Parliament of India. Party A gains 45% of

votes, party B gains 30% of votes. Party C gains 15% of votes

and Party D gains 10% of votes. This will give only 450 members

in the Parliament to Party A, 300 members to party B, 150

members to party C and 100 members to party D. There will

be no bye-election in this system as the next candidate in the

party list will go automatically to the Parliament if either a

candidate dies or resigns or is expelled from the party.

 Each voter will have to cast two votes in this MMP system.

30% members to the parliament will be elected through FPTP

exactly as it is practiced in India at present. The Election

Commission of India will identify such constituencies taking

into account all dimensions that determine electoral districts

normally in India. All voters can cast their votes to any

candidate running in their constituency for one of the 30%

seats. The one who gets more votes than other candidates in

such constituencies will be declared elected.

 Voters will also have a second vote, which they can cast to a

party of their choice looking at the ideology, policies,

programmes laid out in Manifesto, integrity of candidates etc.

Depending on the total percentage of votes that a party obtains

a corresponding number of candidates will go into the

parliament from that party in the full membership of parliament,

single member constituencies and List PR seats combined.

Totally 70% of parliamentary members will be elected through

the second vote of the voters.

 It is possible that candidates, appearing on the party list may

also run for election in that constituency, in which they reside.

If such a candidate wins the seat "directly" in his/her

constituency he/she will get a seat in parliament in any case,

regardless of the rank on which he/she is positioned on the

party list. (Example: even if he/she is positioned on rank 100

of the party list and the party is eligible for only 80 seats he/

she will get a seat. But consequently only 79 seats according

to the ranking-order of the party-list can be distributed. )

11 12 If e.g. 20 candidates of a particular party win their seat "directly"

in their respective constituencies, these 20 seats will be

deducted from the total number of seats for which the party is

eligible. (Example: if a party is eligible for 80 seats according

to the percentage of votes and 20 of their candidates win a

"direct seat", only the 60 remaining seats will be distributed

according to the ranking on the party-list.)

 The party list will be a closed list. There are countries that opt

for an open list system. Considering the complexities of Indian

politics the Workshop of Experts has proposed a closed list

system. In an open list system voters are able to give preference

votes to candidates and by doing so change the order of the

list. For that reason an open list system can't be combined

with reservations/quotas. If a country opts to introduce quotas

on a party list, it has to be a closed list. A list is considered to

be closed the moment it is submitted to the Election

Commission and elections are conducted. Parties will have

no right to change the order of priority in the list after election

results are declared. They will have to follow the order of the

list strictly after declaration of election results. In an open list

system voters may give individual votes within the lists and

that will decide who is filling the party's seats but is regarded

as too complicated within an MMP system for India.. This is

bound to lead to many types of manipulations by party

leadership after elections and voters may not have any say in

such post poll decisions of parties.

 As the ranking of the candidates on the party-list obviously

becomes a vital feature in the life and performance of any

party, the ranking process should follow democratic principles

(inner-party voting)! These processes are vital for the internal

party democracy and party governance. The right to nominate

the candidates for a particular constituency has to be regulated

in the statutes of the parties and should also follow democratic

principles.

5. Reservation

In principle a List PR system is more inclusive than FPTP even

without provisions for reserved seats. This is due to the fact that

more votes in a constituency may give a party more seats. Therefore

a party will attempt to nominate inclusive candidate lists so that

they attract the votes of the Dalits, Women, Adivasis etc. In FPTP

having the highest number of votes suffices to win seats, for example

when one can win a seat with only 25 % of votes and gaining 35 %

of votes does not bring more seats. In list PR every extra vote makes

a difference.

However, many countries that in addition to the automatic effect on

inclusiveness also built in minimum requirements form inclusiveness

into the List PR system in order to make their democracy more

inclusive have also integrated one or other form of reservation/separate

electorate/separate parliament etc. This workshop of experts on

electoral systems deliberated extensively on the question of

reservation/separate electorate for Dalits, Adivasis/Tribals, Women

and Minorities in the new MMP and took into serious consideration

the historical exclusion of these communities of people in many

spheres of governance. It is recognized that the present system of

reserved seats in the Parliament for SC/ST candidates has a

compulsive element of elected members from these categories towing

party lines. If such parties happen to be dominant parties it becomes

difficult for SC/ST members to truly represent the aspirations of their

communities. Also in the present FPTP system people belonging to

other categories are allowed to vote for SC/ST candidates. This makes

the question of representation of excluded peoples more complex

and often impossible given the political compulsions within each

party. Such risks are reduced to the minimum in the party list system.

It is well possible to accommodate proportional representation in

the party list system under the MMP and this Workshop of Experts

recommends that at least the presently given reserved seats will

have to be reflected in the list of any party, running in the election.

The Parliament of India or the Election Commission of India may

decide, according to Indian law, the exact order in the party list in

13 14which names of women, Dalits, Minorities, Adivasis/Tribals etc. have

to be placed. Such an order of names in every party list will ensure

that a certain percentage of candidates from particular communities

or women are elected to the parliament. It must be noted that this

is an India specific recommendation taking into account the

composition of India's population. In order to ensure maximum

representation of communities according to their population in the

country it will be necessary not to expand the categories in the

party list and keep as less as possible. Simultaneously the Workshop

trusts that a healthy competition will emerge between the parties

on which of them will take these reservations really seriously and

try to be the most inclusive one in the choice of their candidates.

The same reservation mechanism as with the party lists could also

apply to the candidates running for election in the FPTP

constituencies. However, there are more disadvantages since the

candidates even in such districts will have to appeal to main stream

voters more than when being one out of many candidates on a list.

It addition it limits people's right to stand for elections. With MMP

one may choose to keep all reservation in the List PR part, but one

may also consider continuing the current reservation system. All

reservation should only be kept until such time when inclusive

representation of hitherto excluded communities becomes a natural

reflection through the electoral system.

In the Mixed Member Proportional representation system in India

70% of seats will be filled from party list. It will not be possible for

any particular caste groups to claim that a Dalit candidate or a

minority candidate won the election because of their votes as it

happens in the present FPTP system. In reserved constituencies

the dominant caste groups are able to assess the approximate

number of votes they cast to Dalit candidates. To that extend they

also apply pressure on Dalit members to serve their interests in the

post poll scenario thus making a Dalit member an ineffective

representative of his own people. In seats that are filled with party

list system such a claim is not possible for dominant caste groups.

Therefore, Dalit members will be able to represent their people

without fear or unnecessary obligations to dominant caste groups.

6. Threshold

Threshold refers to a provision in electoral systems to fix a minimum

percentage of votes for parties that will make them eligible to enter

the parliament. This is not completely new to India. The present

Election Commission has recommended more than 5% of votes

for a party to be recognized/registered as a national party. In some

electoral systems a party will be eligible to send its candidates into

the parliament only if it gains a minimum percentage of votes. If a

party does not gain the fixed minimum percentage it cannot claim

to send representative based on its percentage of votes that will be

less than the fixed Threshold.

A widespread healthy democratic practice in most countries with

proportionate electoral system is the introduction of 'threshold'. This

is done with the avowed purpose of discouraging unhealthy and

unnecessary fragmentation of parties as well as to prevent the entry

of small groups with very little popular support into parliament of

any country. Taking into consideration the need for including

legitimate aspirations of small communities of people in India and

its large population, it is realized by this workshop of electoral

systems experts that for India's MMP a threshold of 1% of overall

polled votes or a win of three FPTP seats will be the most appropriate

one. In India this may necessitate micro communities to come

together and form larger ethnic, linguistic or regional

conglomerations among themselves in order to enhance the

possibility of their representation in the parliament.

7. The Counting System and Distribution of Seats

In order that votes may not be wasted in large proportion, as is the

case in the present FPTP system in India, the proportional systems

are the most adequate ones. Translating votes into seats, however,

plays a significant role in establishing proportionality of

representation. There are many counting systems in this process

of translating votes cast into seats in representative democracies.

To make the translation of votes into seats most accurate, but equally

avoiding 'surprise' outcomes, it becomes imperative that the

Webster-System be used.

15 16Among the many distribution systems that are available the Webster

System also known as Sainte-Laguë Method is chosen mainly

because it brings more proportionality in distributing seats based

on votes without some random side effects which for example

methods like the Largest Remainder have.. The following table will

illustrate how votes are distributed as seats. Let us suppose that

Party A has obtained a total of 250,000 votes, party B has gained

190,000 votes, party C has gained 120,000 votes and party D only

80,000 votes. Odd numbers are the divisors. First all the votes are

divided by number 1. This means all parties gain one seat. As a

second step the votes of all parties are divided by number 3. As a

third step the votes are further divided by number 5 and this process

of division by odd numbers goes on till the total number of seats

are allocated. In the table below the division of votes are stopped at

the fourth step as there are only a total of ten seats, for example. If

there are more seats one or two more rounds of divisions will be

necessary. Of the ten seats party A gains four seats while party B

gains 3 seats, party C gains 2 seats and party C gains only one

seat. The 10th seat has gone to party A as the number of votes is

higher than the number of votes that party C has gained even in the

second step (only 26,670 as against the 35,710 votes that party A

has gained in the fourth step).

Divisor Party A Party B Party C Party D

1 250000 [1] 190000 [2] 120000 [3] 80000 [5]

3 83333 [4] 63333 [6] 40000 [8] 26666

5 50000 [7] 38000 [9] 24000 16000

7 35714 [10] 27142 17142 11428

The divisors in the first column are simply the odd numbers 1, 3, 5,

... in sequence, as many as are necessary. The numbers in each

row are the votes for the party divided by the divisor; the numbers

in the brackets are the ranks of these quotients. When the tenth (or

however many seats are to be apportioned) highest quotients have

been allocated, each party gets as many seats as it has of the

highest numbers. In this case, the parties are assigned 4, 3, 2, and

1 seat in order.

The distribution of seats is done for the full membership of parliament

at national level. Thereafter the number of the seats won by FPTP is

deducted from each party's number of seats and the rest are

distributed to the multi-member constituencies formed by the states

according to the votes won by the parties in the states.

8. Size of Parliament

It is suggested that the MMP for India has single-member

constituencies for the FPTP and that the List PR seats are filled

from party lists in each state or combination of states and territories.

After the results for the parties are calculated on the basis of

nationwide results their seats are filled from such multi-member

constituencies. The number of FPTP seats will be less than in the

current parliament but with multi-member constituencies for the

List PR part there may be a need for increasing the total number of

seats in order to make in particular the 30 % single member

constituencies meaningful. The reduced number of FPTP seats

will necessitate a redistricting of single member constituencies,

The introduction of List PR filled from multi-member constituencies

will not only increase the proportionality of representation in terms

of parties but will also bring in much better inclusiveness in the

Parliament.

It is recognized that even comparatively smaller countries like

Germany using MMP and Nepal with its Parallel System, another

variant of the mixed system, have more than 600 members in their

respective parliaments, for Nepal however, for the temporary

constituent assembly only. Introduction of MMP may call for an

expansion of the size of the parliament of a country. India, being a

huge country of more than one billion people will have to make an

expansion of her parliament that will be congruent to the size of its

population without undermining the need for manageability and an

acceptable relation between representative and voter in the seats

allotted through the district votes. Therefore, this workshop of

17 18

Among the many distribution systems that are available the Webster