Greener Elections: Another Poll Mirage?

The day after polling is always a morbid one. With the elation and exuberance
behind and the anxiety of the results ahead, there is an uncanny stillness in
the air. And accompanying this stillness is vast and humungous amounts of
refuse/garbage that is dumped by all the campaigners; mounds and mounds of
plastic flags, caps, banners, batches, et al. This scenario is usually
exacerbated in big metros where there are multiple Lok Sabha seats. For
instance, in the last assembly elections in Karnataka, the Bangalore
Municipality had to contend with more than 100 kg of garbage from each ward in
the city everyday. The biggest trouble with this waste is that most of it is
made up of plastic that is cheap and easily available.

Hopefully, the scenario might change this year. Recently the Election
Commission of India (EC) asked political parties and candidates to avoid use of
plastic in posters, banners and other election material. The political parties
and candidates should try to avoid the use of plastic and polythene for
preparation of posters and banners in the interest of environmental protection,
the EC said in its guidelines distributed to political parties.

Following the same, all the parties made nice conciliatory noises. For
instance, the Congress Party termed the move as an eco-friendly one and agreed
that it was good for both public health and the environment. The other parties
nodded their heads in agreement and promised to follow the directive in spirit
in actions.

Now if this could be true and achieved, the largest elections on planet earth
could also be one of the greenest. A bulk of the Rs 10,000 crore that will be
spent in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections is usually highly polluting. Much of the
poll paraphernalia like buntings, flags and bags used by the parties are made of
plastic and will be scattered across the city. In case the EC (with its vast
Code of Conduct powers) could undo the damage, it would go a long way in curbing
the environmental damage.

Will it Work?

The chances of 2009 elections being a green one is rare because on reading
the guideline, it becomes obvious that it is an advisory and not a directive.
The EC has asked the parties to try to avoid use of plastic and not merely
avoid. This wordplay makes it toothless. Sadly in India, it is only enforced
directives and not toothless advisories that work.

The biggest reason why the parties look at plastic is simply because of the
cost factor. Plastic flags cost Rs 600 for 1,000 pieces, while in cotton they
would be five times more. To make best use of the Rs 10 lakh limit, a candidate
looks at quantity rather than eco altruism.

And finally, this is not the first time that EC has placed the onus on the
parties to curtail plastic. During the last general elections in 2004, EC had
come out with a similar advisory banning the use of plastic for poll
publicity. The directive had little impact, simply because there was lack of
any clear guidelines or implications.

Thus, even though all the party spokesperson are making the right noises when
it comes to eradicating the use of plastic, the on ground scenario is quite
different. The netaji is very much keen to see all the people wearing his
masks and waving his flags. Plastic or no plastic, is hardly his concern.

Shashwat DC

shashwatc@cybermedia.co.in