Delhi Municipal elections

People’s Voice is happy to report that the residents in many wards of Delhi are organizing to select and put up candidates from amongst themselves, for the coming Delhi Municipal Corporation elections. Disillusioned and disgusted by the present political process, in which candidates who stand on tickets of the big parliamentary political parties openly serve the narrow, self-serving agenda of their respective party bosses once they are elected, several political and social organizations as well as enlightened individuals from different walks of life have come together under the banner of the Jan Pratinidhi Manch, to challenge the domination of the big parliamentary political parties over the polity and put forth an alternative.

Among the organizations that have come forward to form the Jan Pratinidhi Manch are Lok Raj Sangathan, Nagrik Shasan, Nirman Mazdoor Panchayat Sangam, Stop Evictions Campaign, Sangharsh Samitis of various working class colonies, members and leaders of Resident Welfare Associations, as well as many others.

In numerous mass meetings and discussions being held amongst the people, people are actively discussing how to end their marginalisation in the political system and process, and they are discussing the alternative. In several colonies, a vigorous campaign has begun for putting forward candidates selected by the people and accountable to the people. As the campaign statement issued jointly by the Sangharsh Samitis of Sanjay Colony in Okhla, Transit Camp in Kalkaji and J.J.Colony Khadar Vistaar points out, in the prevailing political scenario, people are forced to vote for the “least evil” out of the candidates put up by the various political parties, but the loyalty of such candidates is towards the political party that provided the money power and muscle power to ensure their victory in the elections, not towards the people. Moreover, in the present political process, there are no mechanisms by which the people can demand accountability from the elected representative or ask for his recall when he fails in his responsibilities towards the people. That is why people are seeking a change and are vigorously discussing and working out strategies to unite all the residents and form election committees, which will select and put up candidates for the MCD elections.

Over the last few years Sangharsh Samitis have been formed in several slums and resettlement colonies of Delhi, in defence of the rights of the residents, against demolition of their homes and eviction, for drinking water, regular water supply, toilets, street lights and other basic amenities. Residents Welfare Associations in many of the “proper” colonies have been in the forefront of the struggle against privatization of water, against the loot by the private electricity distribution companies, against the builder-politician-bureaucracy nexus that has made life intolerable for the citizens of Delhi. The coming together of the sangharsh samitis and Residents Welfare Associations, as well as other mass and social organizations working in defence of the rights of the people, on the common platform of Jan Pratinidhi Manch, has been a significant development.

This development has become a thorn in the flesh for the Congress Party, BJP and other political parties of the establishment. Various forces who are in defence of the status quo are trying to discredit the initiatives of the people and line up the people behind the Congress, BJP and other bourgeois parties. Such attacks are taking place from the "Left" as well as the right. The common meeting ground of attacks from both sides is to stand in firm defence of the West minster system, the rule by political parties on behalf of the bourgeoisie as the last and final development in political theory and practice.

Meanwhile, the campaign of Jan Pratinidhi Manch is gathering steam. In the meetings and rallies being held in various colonies across the city, men, women and youth from the slums and resettlement colonies can be seen working enthusiastically with men and women from the “proper” colonies, understanding each others’ problems and together realizing how the bourgeois political parties that have lorded over them for so long, have been fooling them and dividing them in so many ways.

In Sanjay Colony, Okhla, Khadar Vistaar J.J. Colony, Transit Camp, Indira Camp and other slums and resettlement colonies of South Delhi a spirited campaign for selection of people’s candidates has already taken off. Led by scores of working class youth, residents of these colonies, women and men, are organizing marches around their colonies, raising the banners and slogans “Party pratinidhi nahin, jan pratinidhi!” and “No to political party candidates in the MCD elections!” They are going house-to-house, distributing leaflets and patiently explaining to the working people the need to select and elect individuals from amongst themselves, who would lead them in the struggle for their demands and be accountable to the people, whom the people can recall if they betray the interests of the community.

On February 4, Sunday, nearly 50 youth, women and men boarded a van, decorated with colourful banners of Jan Pratinidhi Manch, Lok Raj Sangathan and “Party pratinidhi nahin, jan pratinidhi!” and went around from one colony to another, arousing the residents to join the campaign, to build their own sangharsh samitis and election committees and come forward with candidates selected by the people, for the MCD elections. The Rangabhoomi Natya Samooh enthralled everyone with a play, exposing how elections in the present political process merely serve to legalise the rule of the biggest capitalists through their political parties, while completely marginalizing the people. Through thought-provoking situations and humorous interludes, the play raised the question of making elected representatives accountable to the people and subject to recall.

In Greater Kailash Enclave I, Dwarka and other colonies, meetings are being organized by members of the Residents Welfare Associations, addressed by activists of Jan Pratinidhi Manch. Residents have seriously taken up the campaign for selection of people’s candidates and are urging the others to come forward.

In its Manifesto, the Jan Pratinidhi Manch declares that it is committed to putting up candidates selected by the people from amongst themselves, in open meetings called by the Sangharsh Samiti or resident's committee in each ward. It opposes, as a matter of principle, the imposition on the people, of candidates selected by the political parties. All candidates put up by Jan Pratinidhi Manch would have to testify in public before the people of the ward, that they accept the ‘Standards for Selection’ set by the JPM. These include personal integrity, a record of service to the community, a condition that the candidate does not discriminate among the residents on the basis of religion, caste, region, gender, etc., an agreement that if the candidate is elected, the expenditure of funds allocated for the development of the community will be carried out only in consultation with and with the consent of the Sangharsh Samiti/residents committee, and the candidate will take a solemn oath to resign if the Sangharsh Samiti/residents committee of the ward finds his/her work unsatisfactory.

People’s Voice hails this initiative of the Lok Raj Sangathan and other organisations which are together working to build the Jan Pratinidhi Manch..