Independents’ political scape in state shrinks

Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 3

Haryana voters have started realising the futility of voting for Independents as their role over the years has become peripheral.

Since 2000, there has been a decline not only in the votes bagged by the Independents in the state but also in the number making it to the Assembly.

If we divide the last 12 Assembly elections in two phases, then from 1967 to 1987, the average vote percentage of Independents was 24.55%, but from 1991 to 2014, it fell to 13.93%, a decline of 10.62%. There are 90 seats in the Assembly.

In the first Assembly poll in 1967, the vote percentage of Independents was 32.97%, the highest ever. There were 16 Independents elected to the Assembly, which is a record to date. In 1982 also, 16 Independents got elected but the vote percentage dipped to 26.54%.

But in the 2014 elections, their vote percentage was just 10.60%, the lowest ever, and the seats were reduced to five, the lowest. In 1991 also, there were five Independents but that time the vote percentage was higher at 13.71%.

Since the 1987 Assembly elections, the vote percentage of Independents in the state has been consistently below 20%.

No. of Independents contesting declining

The number of Independent candidates in the first Assembly elections in 1967 was 260 but 196 (75.38%) lost their deposits.

The number rose to 1,045 in 1987 but more than 97% lost their deposit. In 1991, the number further rose to 1,412 but this time, 1,397 (98.94%) lost their deposit. The 1996 poll saw 2,022 Independents, which is a record so far, and 2,001 (over 98%) lost their deposit.

After that there has been a decline in the number of Independents and in 2014, 603 contested and 587 (97.35 %) lost their deposit. In most of the elections, over 90% lost their deposit.

“The Independents have disadvantages and advantages both. They may not be able to influence policy or schemes because politics is all about power. But they are coming in large numbers. They may be increasing political participation, offering more choice to voters and representing micro-level issues which are being ignored by political parties,” said Prof Pampa Mukherjee, Department of Political Science, Panjab University.

According to ‘The Verdict: Decoding India’s Elections’ by Prannoy Roy and Dorab R Sopariwala, the Independents contest to distract voters from the issues and to damage prospects of candidates of major parties. Sometimes to damage the prospects of a major candidate, his rivals prop up an Independent of the same name from the seat. In the 2014 Lok Sabha poll in Hisar constituency, Kuldeep Bishnoi was contesting on Haryana Janhit Congress (Bhajan Lal) ticket. There were seven more candidates with the name Kuldeep in the fray. He lost by 31,847 votes to Indian National Lok Dal’s Dushyant Chautala.

The book further points out that the vote percentage of Independents is higher in state Assembly poll than parliamentary elections.