The West Bengal panchayat election 2023 has opened the Pandora’s Box which was carefully hidden by the ruling party Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. Various cases filed in the Kolkata High Court have exposed the desperation of the ruling party and the administration to win the panchayat poll with a huge margin. For that the courts have been busy pulling up the State Election Commission and the state administration for various dereliction of duties. Sadly, such use of fair means or foul has been the character of any kind of electoral politics in West Bengal. The issue not discussed is how deep rooted the system is as seen during the on-going election 2023 and why is it so.
The critical-most factor that helps perpetuation of the rigged and utterly corrupt election process is lack of any economic opportunity in the state. This encourages people to resort to “rent seeking”. As economist Gordon Tullock had mentioned—in what is known as Tullock paradox—the cost of rent seeking is lower than the gains the successful rent seeker can “earn”. Lack of gainful economic opportunity in West Bengal has helped creation of a class of people who join force with the ruling political power and help continuation of its power. In the process these people benefit from “rental” profit. Panchayat samiti is the lowest rung in the distribution of benefits that come from the exchequer. A step in the panchayat is a step in the ability to siphon off money for personal gains. A panchayat election, therefore, is not exactly a contest for democracy but a fight for ensuring earning for the next five years. This applies in no small measure to all those who want to contest. The urge to rig the system varies inversely with the productive economic opportunity available in the economy. West Bengal’s problems with panchayat election should be examined in this context.
From the several viral phone records it is evident that seats in the three-tier panchayat system are purchased. Price for a seat depends on the position contested—gram panchayat, panchayat samiti or zilla parishad and also on the fact if the buyer of the seat is assured of responsibility beyond being a mere member. In other words, it depends on the opportunity of taking financial decision, therefore extracting “rent”. In a thoroughly corrupt system, where senior ministers of the state administration are behind bars in a job scam, nothing can take place without the exchange of money. Complete monetisation of the state administration is visible in the panchayat election.
When seats are “purchased” the buyer needs to protect his/her right over the product so bought. Getting nomination filed as the ruling party’s official candidate is a step in the right direction but when money is paid one needs to ensure that there is no opposition to spoil the election outcome. So the competition needs to be eliminated. This economic necessity has resulted in the huge withdrawal in West Bengal’s current panchayat poll. In the competitive market, only the fittest survives. And fittest is the person who has the state machinery at his/her disposal. The much publicised and criticised violence arises out of the simple rule of competition. In West Bengal the only competition that is fair is where the administration offers its support. Others may visit the court. Courts may give judgments but once the election process is on and results are declared only the Election Commission—read, State Election Commission—becomes the adjudicator. Courts have the only option of feeling satisfied with media mileage. Economic rules of the state as created over the last 50 years are stronger than any pronouncement of a court.
Depending on the number of households, the lowest tier of panchayat system—a gram panchayat—receives close to Rs 1 crore during its five-year tenure. In addition the GP can act as a decisive body for payment of various benefits like the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana, Swachha Bharat Mission, 100 days’ work. PM Kishan etc. Rules of market may play an important role in receiving a favourable nod on such matters. Each GP member may expect to extort a few lakhs of rupees from the authority vested in the system. In a state where productive economy is virtually dead, the panchayat election held once in five years therefore decides on the economic survival of many. No court can adjudicate on how the spoils will be shared. Panchayat election apportions “rent”.
In an economy where productive activity is few, any institution that can have the authority to apportion benefits, will extract a cut. This cut ensures that the “civic” police at a mere Rs 9,000 a month, work hard to follow the wishes of their political masters. Collection of money from vehicles passing by is a common enough sight in the state’s roads. The state police, which is deprived of its DA payment for the last 12 years, work without protest thanks to such “incentives” they can take home. The porous system ensures additional house rent payment even to the state’s chief secretary or police chief. Where irregularity is perfectly regular economy, the electoral system, too, will absorb such irregularity. The state’s panchayat election is shaped on this “rent seeking” economic system. Sadly, the panchayat election is too insignificant for masters in economics from Kolkata. None like Amartya Sen, Abhishek Banerjee or Kaushik Basu study such irrelevant minor aberrations. The panchayat election is viewed as just another “political contest” for hegemony over the village economy. Such generalisations omit to treat the deep rooted economic ailment and keep passing on the suffering from one generation to the next.
Had Kolkata produced some intellectual like Nobel Laureate Gary Becker, who used the economic approach to analyse social issues, there perhaps could have been some rational solution to the faulty panchayat election of West Bengal. Becker’s analysis assumed that “individuals maximize welfare as they conceive it, whether they be selfish, altruistic, loyal, spiteful, or masochistic. Their behaviour is forward-looking, and it is also consistent over time.” Those who contest a panchayat election look forward to financial gains, those who accept coercion of the mighty want to carry on with their hand to mouth existence without being beaten to pulp. West Bengal’s panchayat poll is a perfect topic for intellectuals like Becker, not for the kind that Kolkata has produced.
Author Sugato Hazra’s latest book is “Losing the Plot: Political Isolation of West Bengal”.