Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India (CERI)

Coordinators Meeting 05-06 July 2011 Booshakthi Kendra, Tumkur, Karnataka Almost all the State Coordinators of CERI met at the Booshakthi Kendra, the Dalit Ashram on 05 and 06 July to take stock of situations in the State and to plan for the future campaign. The following Coordinators and Special Invitees were present: 1. V B Rawat - Uttarakhand 2. Ms. Jyothiraj - Karnataka 3. Nara Singh Manipur and North East 4. Manas Jena - Orissa 5. Ms. Bibian - Tamilnadu 6. Ms. Durga Jha - Charrishgarh 7. Ahmmad Bai West Bengal 8. Vishwabandhu - Jharkhand 9. Vivek - Coordinator 10. Kalidos - Pondicherry 11. IB Singh - Meghalaya 12. Antony Debbarma - Tripura 13. Anil Gaikwad - Maharashtra 14. Sebastian Vanaithan - Tamilnadu 15. Korivi Vinakumar Andhra Pradesh 16. Shaji Krishnan - Kerala 17. V K Joby REDS Finance Manager 18. Ms. Sushma Andhare - Maharashtra 19. Ms. Archana Casmir Booshakthi Kendra 20. M C Raj Moderators: V K Rawat and Sebastian Jyothi welcomed and M C Raj gave the keynote. Keynote Address Friends, Brothers and Sisters We look back at the Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India with a sense of achievement and fulfillment. As the one who initiated this Campaign in India I must confess that I did not anticipate this much moving forward. When we started off with our international conference in Dhaka in October 2008, none of us perhaps ever imagined that we would come this long together in such a concerted manner. In such a short period the Campaign and the issue of

Proportionate Electoral System in India has gained a national visibility much beyond our expectation. This visibility is a strong indication of a deeply embedded but also deeply buried aspiration of the people of India for an electoral alternative. It is evident that they have been groping in the dark this long as they did not even know the existence of another electoral system. The British legacy seems to have blunted the political sensitivity of Indian public. We are happy now about the fact that people all over the country have started waking up to the reality of Proportionate electoral system as a firm need for the future of the Indian people. We are happy that we have been able to make alliances with many Movements, minority groups, eminent NGOs and political parties. With a lot of other outfits we have registered their support for the campaign. We are happy that the Campaign has found a mention in the official website of the National Law Ministry of India apart from the National Media picking up the Campaign as a possible alternative to the country in the context of the call by recent struggles for electoral reforms by others. This was also a period of camaraderie among us. Except a very few who started off with us the rest of us have remained steadfast in the campaign through thick and thin. This bodes well for the future of the Campaign. That we have stuck together in spite of having our own work in respective fields of activities and without much financial returns either for us individually or for our organization is a clear indication of our commitment to this country. I am proud of you and happy about all of you. Even as we approach an era of new political thrust in our country we see India plunging into a new type of crisis. The RSS, BJP and other disruptive forces have targeted on governance in the country through backdoor entry. They hoist civil society actors to intrude into the mechanisms of governance in the country in order to achieve their hidden agenda. I am of the strong view that it is only the Parliament of India that has the right and duty to make laws in the country and civil society cannot form parallel centers of governance. India has a tradition of unconstitutional caste governance for many centuries despite having one of the most beautiful constitutions in the world. I believe, it is the mission of CERI, to focus her energy on safeguarding constitutional governance in India. It is in this context that Proportionate Representation becomes imperative at this point in history. Even the courts have no right to make laws in a democracy. Civil society has a role to play in ensuring proper implementation of the Constitution and to exert pressure on the governments to bring about appropriate changes in the Constitution according to changing needs of time. I believe that in as much as governance is in crisis in this country civil society is also leading itself into crisis after crisis through its callous

indifference, lack of knowledge and disproportionate assertion of its role in governance. CERI has to play a role not only to bring about PR system in India through the Parliament but also to make sure that governance is executed in the spirit of the Constitution of India. This is our challenge for the future. If the above is accepted in right spirit it will throw up many challenges before the Campaign in the very near future. Let us take stock of them. We have the daunting task of bringing in more and more intellectuals, individual politicians, political parties and civil society leaders into the campaign. We need to ask ourselves to what extent each of us are capable of doing this in the next phase of our Campaign and how we can redeem the Campaign from possible lacunae. There is a strong need to perceive the signature campaign as a foundation for education of masses on PR system. We shall miss the bus if we take the signature campaign in isolation. It has to be integrated into all other dimensions of the campaign in order to achieve its significance. We also need to give special focus on the need to capturing as much space as possible in the national media. We are happy about the type of attention you have managed to grab in the state level media. It is also time that we take this success to the next logical step of making national media give adequate coverage to this very important issue of proportional electoral system in India. It is also of great significance that we give national visibility to CERI in the country. There are a few other campaigns in India for electoral reforms. We are in agreement that the present electoral system has many loopholes. If we attempt only to plug such loopholes we shall be tinkering with the system, adorn it with some paraphernalia and make it more presentable to the people of India. This will go to prevent the people from seeing the need for alternative and more efficient systems. CERI should stand out for the fact that we have shown positively to the people of India that there is a clear possibility of more inclusive governance in this country through proportionate electoral system. You have a task on your hands. If we need to succeed in our Campaign it becomes imperative that we build strong groups of intellectuals in each State of India who will have the intellectual reserve to explain to people all questions related to electoral systems and to 3

proportional representation. This is also an area where your personal challenge will come. As State Coordinators you are not going to command much respect if you do not establish yourselves as opinion leaders. This is a campaign that needs strong and in-depth opinion leaders and knowledge leaders. Please take this as your immediate challenge and become the best knowledge leader in your respective state on proportionate electoral system. This will be our sure path to succeed in the Campaign faster than we anticipate. We shall also leave no stone unturned in building many others as opinion leaders in your states. With such rock foundation, it will be of paramount importance for the Campaign to move into the corridors of the Parliament of India and State Assemblies asking elected members to bring about relevant Bills in the Parliament and State Assemblies for proportionate electoral system in India. This is the core mission of the next phase of our Campaign. In order to facilitate this process CERI together with the Coordinator of the German Dalit Solidarity Platform has organized a Workshop of electoral system experts in the world. Armed with a policy document on proportionate electoral system, tailor-made for India, we shall be in a much stronger position to prod and influence the elected members in India to take up the issue of proportional representation.

Brothers and Sisters Let us keep aside for the time being grassroots action on PR system. It will come. I request you to rise above grassroots without losing our roots among the people and become actors in appropriate implementation of the Instruments and Mechanisms of governance. I want to bring to your attention that we can move mountains if we believe in ourselves. We can do this. I believe I can do this. I firmly believe you can do it. I believe we can definitely do it together. Do you believe you can do this? That is a crucial question that you are left with. I wish you all a lot of strength and courage for the coming years to carry forward this very important mission in restoring egalitarian governance and to ensure irreconcilable space for Dalits, Adivasis, Tribals, Indigenous Peoples, Most Backward Castes, minorities of all hue and cry and women of all shades. Thank you The States

North East There is a need for working harder to bring PR faster than we planned. Sikking and Assam will have their State Conference before the end of September. Tamilnadu Happy to inform about the stand of the Dalit Panthers Party of India in Tamilnadu. Thol. Thiruma has given a public call for Proportionate Electoral System in India. One Southern Districts Convention took place. There was also a meeting of selected intellectuals for two full days at Booshakthi Kendra. Maharashtra Mr. Ramdas Athawale is organizing a conference for members of Parliament in Delhi on August 09. Anil and Vivek are working with him to make this a success. Now Sushma Andhare has also joined the team. Karnataka Mainly signature campaign has taken place 213,000 and 216000 for land. Kannada Manifesto has been brought out. Jyothi shared two reflections. We are looking at the present electoral system in the country. I like to bring a list of identified intellectuals. Bring them together for three days. Different questions that come up should be addressed. Orissa Manas has identified about six MPs to be invited for the August 09 Conference. There was a strong suggestion that the Manifesto be updated with also the type of questions that have come up till now. Resource debate and governance need to be linked to the campaign. Andhra Pradesh Vinay will call together senior people in Andhra for a discussion. Chattishgarh is planning for a regional workshop in August. Uttarakhand UP and Uttarakhand Every activity has a part for CERI. Planning to organize a Chinthan Shibir. Pushing political outfit to take up

leadership. Collected 15 to 20 thousand signatures. Meeting on 24 July in Gazipur. Signature Campaign Maharashtra has already 15,000 Delhi has about 15,000 Give hard copy to Dr. Nara and Mr. I B Singh Karnataka has collected 213000 Tamilnadu has 10,000 Rajasthan has 10,000 Andhra has 17,000 Jyothi suggested a recognition of all those who have worked for PR system in India. Rawat - Can we have a simultaneous skype conference in India with the core group and the Berlin Workshop. The Future Even as the Group set out to plan for the future Raj read out the following from his write up that he made after the Core Group meeting in Delhi a few months earlier. 1. CERI will organize a Workshop of Experts in Electoral Systems from across the globe. This is aimed at working out an electoral policy document that will be tailor-made for India. All countries have their specificity and problematic in governance. However, in order to render democracy meaningful it is of paramount importance that electoral systems in democracies are made congruent to the profession of democratise principles in governance and the aspirations of the citizens of the country. This Workshop will take place in the month of October 2011 in Berlin. M C Raj of CERI and Walter Hahn of German Dalit Solidarity Platform will jointly coordinate this programme to its logical end. 2. In this second phase CERI plans to take the State Conferences to Conferences for elected members of the Parliament at the national level and elected members of State Assemblies. Both types of Conferences will be organized by State Coordinators. It is possible that two or three State Coordinators will combine together to organize elected members conferences in two or three states together. These conferences will be only for one full day. There will be a total of 9 conferences for elected members of Parliament during the proposed project period and six conferences for elected members in each state. The number of elected members at state levels is taken on average as some states have less elected members and some

have more. 3. CERI plans to organize a national consultation during this phase on parliamentary procedures for key people who are involved in the Campaign. This is necessitated by the fact that CERI does not want to be beating round the bush in terms of urging the Parliament of India to take up the issue of electoral reforms for discussion in the Parliament. There are technical procedures to do this. There are many ways and all avenues need to be explored scientifically and systematically so that CERI does not waste its energy and imagination. 4. This need for building a team of experts in electoral systems has been a felt need in almost all the states as in the next phase CERI wants to move away from rhetoric to substantial intelligent talks. Potential intellectuals from different walks of life will be identified and learning events will be organized for them mostly in Booshakthi Kendra but occasionally also at other places to educate them in different types of electoral systems in the world so that in the likelihood of the Indian parliament taking up discussions, others outside of parliament are enabled to talk with substance not only on PR system but also on other electoral systems. Thus they will be able to build their argumentation for PR systems with a substance that will be much above the level of rhetoric. 5. The next phase of CERI is actually a drive towards taking up the issue of proportionate electoral system to the corridors of the Parliament of India. Therefore, CERI will make concerted efforts to knock at the doors of Parliamentarians and Legislators and not only convince them but also pressurise them to rake up this issue in the Parliament. In order to do this, States will organize formal seminars and conferences for them. It may not be possible to bring all of them together and it may not be a good thing to do that either. Therefore, the State Committees will carefully lobby with Parliamentarians and Legislators who will support the issue of proportionate electoral system when it ultimately comes up for discussion in the Parliament of India and also simultaneously take up the same issue in State Assemblies. 6. It is planned that during this phase the Manifesto of CERI will be published in as many languages as possible so that the message spreads far and wide in India and also in neighbouring countries. M C Raj is also working on another researched book on electoral systems and such a book will be published during the Campaign period. CERI also plans to fill the country with pamphlets. This is aimed at educating the masses on the need for electoral reforms so that this second

phase will naturally lead to the next phase where people will come to the centre stage of the Campaign. 7. CERI Core Group will continue to meet regularly as it has done in the past. It has been strongly proposed to expand the Core Group in order to have equal number of women. Each State will have one man and one-woman member in the Core Group. Since the number has been expanded the frequency of meetings has been reduced to two in a year. 8. State Coordination is a support that is provided to State Coordinators from the Core Group and CERI Management for communications, stationary, support to one office staff and the like. The 15 States that started the Campaign earlier are given this support a little more than the seven states that have started the Campaign only towards the end of the first phase. Thus proportionality is maintained within the group of State Coordinators. 9. The State Coordinators will have the freedom to move about in their respective states, according to what they plan in Core Group Meetings and motivate different levels of people to work voluntarily for the Campaign. A small support is envisaged to the State Coordinators for their travels within States. 10. Management and Administration has been recast because of the changed situation in REDS. One senior management staff of REDS has to be supported by CERI as he is working full time for CERI both at the national and at the international levels. His salary was maintained by REDS in the first phase of the Campaign with support from the Dalit Panchayat Movement. This is no more possible in the second phase as one of the major Donors from the Netherlands has opted to withdraw from India. With this change we hope that the Campaign will not be affected in any way because of changes within REDS. After long deliberations the group of CERI Coordinators made the following decisions. Decision 1 It was decided to declare 10 February to be declared Democracy Day in India and signatures to be submitted to President and PM of India. Decision 2

It was decided to set up a Student Wing of CERI. The following persons have taken responsibility for the task. Jyothiraj Sebastian Bibian - Coordinator Nara Singh Sangalp Decision 3 It was decided to have a series of national conferences for elected Members of Parliament in different regions of India during the next three years. Coordinator for this Programme is Korivi Vinay Kumar Other Members in this Committee are: Nara Singh V B Rawat Manas Jena Decision 4 It was decided to have a series of zonal conferences for elected members of Legislative Assemblies. Zonal Coordinators North East Nara Singh North V B Rawat West Sushma Andhare East Manas Jena South Sebastian Decision 5 It was decided to have a national conference on Parliamentary Procedures for selected candidates from all over the country. Coordination of this programme will be done by Manas Jena Decision 6 It was decided to organize a national conference of women leaders who will take up leadership positions in respective states for CERI. This will take place in September 2011. Coordinators: Jyothiraj and Bibian

Decision 7 It was decided to organize a series of in-depth learning on PR system for select intellectuals from each state. The trainings will generally take place in Booshakthi Kendra. Coordinator Jyothiraj Decision 8 It was decided to set up an Executive Core Group from among the Coordinators to meet more often and take immediate administrative decisions. The Executive Core Group will consist of the following persons. 01. Mr. Korivi Vinay Kumar 02. Dr. Nara Singh 03. Ms. Sushma Andhare 04. Mr. Vidya Bushan Rawat 05. Fr. Sebastian Vanaithan 06. Mr. Manas Jena 07. Mrs. Jyothiraj 08. Mr. Vivek Sakpal 09. Mrs. Durga Jha 10. Mr. M C Raj - Coordinator Decision 9 It was decided to organize the following programmes in the next three months. 01. State Conference of Assam 02. State Conference of Sikkim 03. State Conference of Goa 04. National Conference in Gurgaon by iCONGO 05. National Conference of Members of Parliament 06. Two Conferences in Andhra in August and September 07. One regional conference in Chattishgarh 08. One regional Conference in Maharashtra 09. One in Southern Districts conference in Tamilnadu in July 10. One regional conference in August in Erode 11. One regional conference for Northern Tamilnadu in early October 12. One Day State level conference in Tamilnadu 13. One Training for youth at district level in Tamilnadu, 14. One Training for University Professors in Tamilnadu 15. One documentary film and awareness songs in Tamil 16. One alternative writers forum-a workshop 17. One Students programme in Pondicherry 18. One Writers programme in Pondicherry 19. Another State Conference in west Bengal

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Decision 10 It was decided to give a national call to Students to join the campaign and work for Proportionate Electoral System in India. There will be a national conference of student leaders in January 2012. Bibian will be in charge. The Budget Raj also laid before the group of coordinators the available budget that CERI has managed to mobilize till now towards the future. The group decided to make use of the available budget of INR 16 million judiciously in the next three years while trying to mobilize as much local resources as possible. Special Discussion The group made a special request to Raj to explain the 16 issues he had identified for working on a tailor-made proportionate electoral system for India. These issues will be discussed in the Workshop of Electoral Systems Experts in Berlin in the month of October. The group took more than half a day to go through slowly on these issues and give their feedback too. The issues are the following: 1. What type of Proportionate Representation will be suitable for India? 2. Counting systems 3. Surplus votes 4. District magnitude 5. Threshold 6. Dalit/Adivasi/Tribal/Minority/women/MBC representation 7. Gerrymandering 8. Magnitude of the Parliament of India 9. Bicameral system? 10. Financing of elections and candidates 11. Party List - open or closed? 12. Voting Age in India 13. Ensuring Inner party democracy in candidate selection 14. Ensuring that only candidates with more than 50% of votes are declared winners in direct election 15. Scope for Independent Candidates 16. Negative votes/Right to recall etc. In a departure from general tradition all the participants stayed put till the end on the second day and left the venue with a sense of satisfaction for having learned so much and with a renewed determination to do more than what they did till now to bring proportionate electoral system in India.

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