“What is it in the present political system that ensures that people count for nothing?” Since its inception the Lok Raj Sangathan delved deeply into this question and answered it. It loses no opportunity to explain it to as many people as possible, and every election provides one such opportunity. The allied question – “What can we do to ensure that people are all - important?” demands not just a theoretical answer, but practical steps as well.

 After discussions in the Maharashtra Council of Lok Raj Sangathan, it was decided that we would use the Vidhan Sabha elections to promote an alternate vision, to strengthen Lok Raj Samitis and to demonstrate how people could take steps to challenge the status quo. We would do this by putting up a candidate.

One of the major flaws in the present system is that people have no role in selecting the candidate. That is considered to be the privilege of the “High Command”. Crores of rupees are spent on every candidate. It is an open secret that the biggest industrial houses consider funding various parties as a necessary investment. After they are elected, these very parties do all in their power to fatten these houses as well as themselves at the expense of the people. The so-called representatives are thus accountable to the big industry as well as to their party High Commands, but not to the people.

Our candidate was selected by no High Command. Lok Raj Sangathan organised a public meeting in Worli and there was an open discussion on what should be the program of our candidate and who should be the candidate. Com Balraj Gurram, an activist of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, a well-loved and respected local resident, a teacher of generations of people, who enjoys a reputation of going out of his way to help people, was chosen as the People’s Candidate from Worli.

To ensure accountability, the first thing that Com Gurram was asked to do was to write out a resignation letter and hand it to the Lok Raj Samiti. The understanding was that if he failed to deliver after being elected, the Samiti would hand in his resignation letter to the Vidhan Sabha. This step was publicized in his manifesto, and an open invitation was extended to the people to join this Samiti. His manifesto contained issues of vital importance, which he agreed to fight for and to lead people’s struggles. He also committed to be readily available to his constituency, to hold public meetings in which he would consult the people and render accounts.

Our team of volunteers who carried out the campaign went door-to-door along with the candidate and also held a number of meetings in which this novel approach was publicized. Another thing that was done was that we decided that the expenses for the election would be entirely raised from well-wishers, from people’s organisations and from the public at large. Along with slogans like “Logon ke ummidwar ko vijayi banao, Lok Raj ke taraf kadam badhao”, the short, crisp “Vote bhi do, note bhi do”, also struck a good chord. Though there was initial hesitation in asking total strangers for money, the response from the people quickly conquered it. “We like your campaign. Those who do showy campaigns are nothing but looters”. In slum areas, where we willy-nilly had to focus on the ground floor, there were instances when women called us and put their contribution in our dabba.

The problems of the people of this constituency are same as those anywhere in the country. One of the specific problems that women in particular face is that of water supply. “The incumbent MLA won two elections promising to improve the supply. In actual fact the supply is worse today. Earlier we used to get it for 3 hours, now we just get an hour’s supply, and that too at very low pressure. The water is not fit to drink. Just before the elections, more pipes were put in our building. Who knows – after the results are out, they may disappear! This happened in Dharavi!”

Wherever we went, innumerable people greeted our candidate and congratulated him for taking this brave step. Brave it was – he did not bow down before pressure which established parties put on him to withdraw. People phoned him and asked him to come to their areas. Since the time available for an independent candidate is less than two weeks, this was not possible. Then these people took it upon themselves to xerox and distribute his manifesto.

These is no doubt that if there had been a level playing field, candidates like ours would have won. The playing field is decidedly not level. It is totally tilted towards the officially “recognised” parties (people recognise these very same parties as anti-people and criminal). How? That would be an article by itself. Here however one point needs to be mentioned. After the EVMs (electronic voting machines) were introduced, allegedly to promote the fairness of elections, the opposite has happened. These machines can be identified by their number, so how many people in one particular booth voted for each candidate is no more a secret. This makes the voters extremely vulnerable in the face of various threats issued by the established parties to vote for them or else… This is one of the important reasons why the votes garnered by candidates like ours in no way reflects the amount of dissatisfaction against the establishment.

All those who participated in this campaign were energized and filled with hope for the future, with even more determination to pursue the path we have chosen. Those whom we were able to reach certainly saw a ray of hope.