My ideal political system - Can we ever achieve this?

Before every elections, we are polarized. We either are frustrated by the inefficiency of the ruling party, or are in awe of the tall promises made by the opposition party. All what is gained in this process is by these politicians, and all what is lost in this process is of the very people for whom these politicians are fighting the elections.

It's been such a mundane and standardized process, that we have somehow accepted the current election system as a part and parcel of our lives. Any questions on it's validity and legality seems unconstitutional to us, and the person raising fingers seems an anarchist to us.

But are there any ways to revive this system? 

Who doesn't like fantasies. So do I. I have tried to lay out an ideal electoral process, which if implemented could become the most transparent and efficient one. But alas ! this is just a fantasy. Hope I wake up some day and it becomes a reality.

Constituency Level

1. There should be a team of eminent personalities (retired judges, IAS officers, social activists, thinkers) for every constituency, be it an assembly or a parliament; which could be chosen by people's votes within that constituency. Let's call them District Conveners for our convenience. This team should change after every Government term, and replaced with a new team. However, if a specific person is sought to be retained by the other members as well as the public within that constituency, he should be retained for next term as well. To remove corrupt practices, let this selected team be working completely voluntarily, with little/ no obligations for the efforts.

2. This team should gather the requirements of the constituency over the next 5 years, the expectations of people from their representative within that constituency, and list down such agenda. This could be both qualitative as well as quantitative, and could be anything such as 24 hour electricity, reviving the old park, improving the police response, constructing better road from A to B, 5 extra ticket counters in railway station, removal of alcohol factory from a certain location, improving public transport system etc.

3. The main role of the team of eminent personalities will be segregate the agenda, which comes under the purview of the MLA or MP, and associate a rough estimate of expected cost. This document should be the base of a people's manifesto from their constituency. Make this document live before elections, and let the candidates form their manifestos around the same, or by adding or subtracting items from this list. The candidates would also be expected to give a deadline, ways to complete the tasks, and difficulties associated with the tasks if any. They should be making their counter document live in open.

4. The people will be able to see the responses of the candidates, their own priorities of the agendas; and based on this as well as their own conscience should be in a much better position to decide the candidate they would like to vote for. The main role of campaign team for different parties will be to communicate their manifesto to the people who can't read and write. Opposition will also have the opportunity to struck cord if they feel the other candidate has lied about anything.

5. Once a MP/ MLA is elected, there should be a review for his/her work in every 6 months by the same team of eminent personalities from the constituency. At the start of 2nd year, a notice should go to the leaders, and the leaders should mention the progress of their promises covered in their manifesto - both qualitative as well as quantitative. They should also mention the spending of the budget/MP-MLA fund allocated to them so far, along with the balance sheet. This will give the people clear idea about how the funds are being utilized.

6. Any tour in India or abroad for public benefits, must be mentioned in this report - along with the report of the tour, the benefits people are going to get from it, whether it is as per manifesto - or something which is of less priority for the people, as well as how they are going to implement the learning and how soon. This will help them make accountable for any untoward tours.

7. People should have right to withdraw a candidate's candidature within a constituency, based on failure to live up to the promises made in manifesto. These representatives should be given 12 months to show improvement, and failing which, in the next review cycle, they should be removed. Till the time, there is no representative, these group of people could act as the representative (same like President's rule). Else, the Government can decide to have re-elections, if the people demand.

State Level

1. Similarly, these District Conveners at the constituency level, should nominate, vote and elect a team of "State Conveners" at a state level. 

2. This team should gather the requirements of the state over the next 5 years, the expectations of people from their CM and various ministers, and list down such agenda. This could be both qualitative as well as quantitative, and could be anything related to state welfare such as transparency in school admission process, reduction in crime rate, transparent and faster approval for new business setup (reduction from existing 45 days to 10-15 days), increased focus on agriculture (increase agriculture share to GDP by 5%) etc. The subsequent 

3. The main role of the team of eminent personalities will be segregate the agenda, which comes under the purview of the CM and various ministries. This document should be the base of a people's manifesto from their state. Make this document live before elections, and let the parties form their manifestos around the same, or by adding or subtracting items from this list. The parties would also be expected to give a deadline, ways to complete the tasks, and difficulties associated with the tasks if any. They should be making their counter document live in open.

4. The people will be able to see the responses of the parties, their own priorities of the agendas; and based on this as well as their own conscience should be in a much better position to decide the party they would like to see in the state. The main role of campaign team for different parties will be to communicate their manifesto to the people who can't read and write. Opposition will also have the opportunity to struck cord if they feel the other party is lying about what they have covered in their manifesto.

The similar process could be implemented for National level as well. 

Well the whole motive of this post is not just to achieve this fantasy or dream, but to think about the ways things could be reformed. Doesn't all of us want a change - the onus is on us, whether we want to follow laid norms; or lay out norms for others to follow later.