Context:
While political parties are actively campaigning, and candidates are being announced for the upcoming elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Telangana, a common trend in these elections, as well as recent ones, is the last-minute shift of leaders from one party to another.
Relevance:
GS2- Polity
Mains Question:
Electoral politics has given rise to a group of politicians who are more focused on building a career through patronage rather than strong ideological convictions. Comment in the light of cases of defections in ongoing state elections in India. (15 marks, 250 words).
Politics of Patronage:
- In India, elections have become costly, and most parties, except those on the Left, now select candidates not solely based on their merit or popularity but increasingly on their ability to gather resources for their campaigns.
- Consequently, electoral politics has given rise to a group of politicians who are more focused on building a career through patronage rather than strong ideological convictions.
- This has resulted in a high degree of flexibility in party affiliations for this group, many of whom engage in party-switching based on their assessment of the prevailing electoral trends.
- This phenomenon is not limited to newcomers but also includes incumbents who make the switch when their party doesn’t offer them another opportunity and rebels who decide to change sides.
Impact of the Politics of Patronage:
- The politics of patronage can be criticized for not truly representing the interests and demands of constituents but rather operating as a transaction between the candidate and the voter. In this transaction, the voter receives goods and services from the winning candidate in exchange for their vote, and the legislator leverages their position for personal gain, often through a spoils system.
- This system of patronage can also be seen as a consequence of the broader democratization of the political landscape, which leads to the emergence of representatives catering to specific voter demands and bypassing traditional party structures.
- The unintended outcome of this system is the presence of career-oriented politicians who prioritize transactional purposes over principled or ideological reasons.
Conclusion:
Defections are likely to persist in Indian politics unless voters penalize defectors for their frequent party-switching and no longer see any long-term benefit in selecting representatives with tenuous ideological affiliations.
