Diversity and the local body polls
Tamil Nadu will see the first phase of rural local body polls today. Local body polls, an essential component of democracy and governance, were delayed for three years and are taking place for the first time since 2011. The polls are important for both Dravidian majors in the state. If the DMK swept the Lok Sabha polls, the AIADMK tasted significant success in bypolls to several Assembly seats. So both parties are approaching the current polls with caution.
While social dynamics play a role in every election, their role in rural local body polls can undoubtedly be a deciding factor. This can be seen in how reservation for SC/STs and women is either contested or ‘managed’ by dominant community members and men. This is signalled by two phenomena. The first involves the alleged ‘auctioning’ of panchayat seats. Here the dominant community comes together to ‘choose’ a candidate who agrees to contribute the most to the village temple.
That candidate is allowed to contest unopposed. The funds are ostensibly used for village development. The second, perhaps an effect of the first, is that candidates to 18,570 posts out of 91,975 have already been elected unopposed. That is a whopping one-fifth of the seats going to the polls. These ‘arrangements’ indicate a society still in the clutches of caste and patriarchal interests, even decades after Dravidian rule which aimed to replace these interests with a more equitable society.
Still, it cannot be denied that social movements and state action have worked to weaken these clutches. While Dalits still face violence for contesting in polls against a dominant community’s desire, there are two Dalit parties providing representation and support to people against entrenched caste interests.
On the other hand, this is the first local body election in TN in which 50% of the seats are reserved for women. By simply offering women the opportunity to occupy political space regardless of their background, diversity in representation is already guaranteed. Not enough has changed in the state. But some things certainly have.