This Election season, we saw the townification of Karumandurai. In earlier years, rallies in Karumandurai would involve youngsters on bikes with flags doing the rounds of all the villages.This year the number of rallies in the villages was fewer, but EPS himself kicked off his campaigning in Karumandurai (ironically, not for Two Leaves but for its alliance partner, The Drum).

I was there -stuck- when the police cordoned off the Salem road: I watched EPS and his entourage of some 10 SUVs and 10 police buses zoom madly up the Salem road in front of the bank. There was a puja at the Vinayakar temple and a Public meeting at the Bus stand, for which many truckloads of people were ferried into Karumandurai.

Thankfully, I missed the DMK rally, but I saw Karumandurai festooned with pictures of Stalin and his alliance partners (all in single-use plastic :-(

I was offered Rs 250 a vote by the AIADMK, but this year, the DMK functionary was too embarrassed to make me the offer after years of refusal. (DMK’s offer was also Rs 250 a vote, for those interested). He did try to poach Badri’s vote by saying to him, as we stood in line, “Badri-oda first-a?”, which could mean “Is it Badri’s first vote”, but also “Is Badri voting for the first (button on the EVM)?” I, naively said, “Ille, second-u”. The second button was the BSP, and of course no-one was going to vote for them.

We went to vote early, as the polling was beginning, and got back before the heat. As always, it was a social occasion, meeting people and flashing forefingers.

The night, as usual was rent by loud drunken cries. The usual, “Vote-u potaachu, ippo oru quarter podalaam”.

The next morning, Jayamani invited me for tea after I filled my last round of water at the Aatu-bore, the Valagapattu taps having run dry. I told Selvam that the wall of his house was painted with both Rising Sun and Drum, and so started the inevitable political discussion. He told me that he had not taken money from either party this time, and that he hoped that the Rising Sun would win. He said this tentatively, since he didn’t know my leanings. I said that since most people wanted Modi to lose, they would vote for Rising Sun whether they liked it or not. He beamed and said “Adhu thaan korrrect”. I finished my tea, and headed home with the last lap of water for the morning.

This year, the boys were (and are) immersed in the election, Varun’s exams notwithstanding. The painting for this post comes from his submission for his Painting portfolio. So the question of Who to vote for, Why vote at all? Does my vote make a difference? What about NOTA? and many other questions had to be discussed threadbare.

Here, Voting is (also) a social exercise, and that is very enjoyable. We meet so many people we know, all dressed up for the vote election thiruvizha. But as a political exercise, what happens? Are we voting for our representative? The very thought is ridiculous. The exercise is vitiated by those who have cornered the Election market. How many of you reading this know your MP or MLA? As for us, we learnt only this year, (and that thanks to the boys) that though our Assembly segment is Yercaud, our Lok Sabha constituency is not Salem but Kallakurichi (which is now the newest district in Tamil Nadu).

Which is why we cannot blame the villagers for taking money for votes: The whole exercise of electing representatives is completely removed from their daily life: there is no connect with an MLA or MP. So the attitude is, “Well, they are going to make money for 5 years; we may as well take what is coming to us”. And conversely, for the MLA or MP this is an investment. If it pays off, then they are going to make money for 5 years.

With Panchayat elections on the other hand, there is much more engagement: Who is standing? Where is he from? What does he say he will do for the villages? They truly represent us (Well, more than the MLA/MP anyway). After the election, whether one voted for him or not, one can ask questions of the “number”: He is local, after all.

So, then is it possible to make the MLA/MP elections (and more importantly the MLAs /MPs) function in the way the Pancahayat election does? Otherwise there is no true Democracy. In the homes of the well-to-do, there will be no voting (“What’s the use?”), and the Election day just conveniently becomes a part of a long weekend/ short vacation. In the homes of villagers here, people will vote because of the money. In either case the exercise is corrupted at the very beginning.

The process begins with the vote; it cannot end with the vote. To make our vote count we have to engage in all sorts of other activities; writing, RTI petitions; engaging with the representatives; talking about politics (which I must admit I am loathe to do, and only now have begun to do with “a little bit of help” from the boys).

The alternative is to watch helplessly as the government; no, the state itself is captured by venal people. And worse, the whole business of democracy becomes of the venal people, for the venal people, by the venal people.