Legalize Electoral, Governance & Political Corruption?

Legalize Electoral, Governance & Political Corruption?

Prasad Rao

gprasadrao@hotmail.com;

gprasadrao.blogspot.com; gprao64.blogspot.com

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The Context

Elections are not just in the news, the media is thick with it, and the soundwaves are jamming our 4G-hot, rock’n roll ‘Play’ videos! India is once again host to the grand show – bigger than the Kumbh or the IPL TV audience, and rivalling any other mass gathering, even globally. But this column is not about how, or why these elections are portrayed as ‘Vote-now-for-your-Diwali-tomorrow’ event. It’s about the financial ethics behind this constitutional requirement that empowers citizens of this country to elect their Political Government for another term. Running a successful pan-India campaign to elect 545 representatives to the Lower House is not an everyday task, even if that event is administered and financed in part by the purportedly independent Election Commission of India. The stakes are significant and substantial. The winning Party, or a Coalition, that takes over the Federal government, governs over its 36 odd Precincts (States), interacts with the IMF and the World Bank to facilitate flow of funds to coordinate its social programs and economic growth, oversees defences of the nation, and directs its political economy – all with a Ministerial Council and high Bureaucracy, appointments to which are coveted in political circles. Surely, a Government that administers a combined Rs28 lakh Crores in Civilian and Defence budgets would find many Ministerial Wannabees eager, even desperate to win elections and disburse contracts to their favored? The mad rush for political support and funds is all too evident in within-party deals and races for electoral seats, in pre-poll Coalition bargaining, post-poll ministerial and bureaucratic horse-trading, and indeed Corruption over the entire political term. Whom then do we blame for political corruption – whether ministerial, bureaucratic, in political appointments to various diplomatic and other high profile posts, even in the drafting of various regulatory policy reforms¹? True, the EC implemented Electoral Bonds toward incrementing transparency in Politics. But did it solve any of the various shades of grey political deals? Rafale and Nuclear submarines? Land Acquisition? 5G? PSU Divestment? Investments in TAPI and through OVL India, MSP & Farm Loan Waivers? Even Campaign Financing? Alas not. Truthfully, nobody, but for a few Consulting Houses, Ministry Bureaucrats, top-rung Defence and Political leaders, the CAG, and those bravehearted Investigative Journalists, are at all aware of the scale of corruption that the Indian Polity accommodates. What over-arching strategy could we adopt that targets these various kinds of political (and Bureaucratic) corruption?

If indeed, we have taken a half-circle toward cleansing political corruption with the successful introduction of (Private) Electoral Bonds, should we not close that circle by issuing (Public) Shares of Political Parties that capitalize on both, Private monetary and Public electoral support? Political Parties do not operate to earn profits, but they do exist to fulfill a political objective – an objective that involves taking cognizance of public opinion, saliences, and preferences simultaneously with the leveraging of economic opportunities presented by advances in domestic and foreign technology, open markets and an expanding population under a politically-controlled, endogenous agenda. If Political Parties operate under the public eye, should there not be an instrument that permits societal entities, broadly-defined and whether of the Left or the Right, to express their hopes, satisfaction, dis-satisfaction, dis-illusionment, or play their private political strategies with like-minded, or competing interests? This column proposes a simple extension of the EC-implemented Electoral Bonds Scheme to a broader strategy involving market-capitalization and trading of their Private and Public political support. The proposal has the potential to monetize political opportunities, legalize extraction of political, diplomatic and economic policy rents, and thus serve as a deterrent to political Corruption.

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It takes two to Tango... So Lets!

Political corruption has always been at the center-stage of contemporary society. What was an occasional opportunistic lottery has, with an exacerbation of the polar Nominal economic paradigm, come to roost as a routine event camouflaged in Government secrecy and Fiduciary confidentiality. The prospect of corruption in higher magnitudes associated ministerial and bureacratic appointments has heightened the shadow values of holding political offices, and spread the virus of political greed deep in to our polarized society. Though the introduction of Electoral Bonds has brought in increased transparency in political and campaign funding, that transparency does not extend to underground deals that might occur before, during and after the elected term of office, or in various non-official political contexts. Much like Drugs, Political Corruption cannot be rooted out entirely; it could however be turned legal, monitored, hedged against, and therefore be attenuated and managed. The strategy suggested here is entirely in line with such philosophy. By combining and issuing Private monetary support and Public votes of democracy as an Egg Endowment FV to political parties, and which they may trade at the ECPX for PV, this proposal offers Political Parties a defensible start-lumpsum to their campaigning and governance efforts. The facility, thereafter, to monetize political statements, appointments, moves, stances, strategies, and leverage public perceptions in to changes in the price of traded instruments of political capital & popularity, offers a ready mechanism to monetize social, political and economic opportunities, albeit in competition with other political parties. On a tangent, one could note that a quasi-formal means of political monetization ensures political parties do not find themselves inferior in negotiating with business interests at home, or entities with foreign affiliations.

EPS trades at the ECPX would serve many functions – from diplomatic, political and economic signalling by the Party, the elicitation of ancilliary, non-monetary aphysical streams, to gauging Public reactions to its various political stances, statements and strategies. Volatility in traded EPS prices, whether sourced externally, or self-triggered in the form of Leadership appointments and shake-ups, announcement of populist policies, even the annual Sovereign Budget (that is now tracked at the stock market) would cause an immediate reaction in the bi-denominational prices of various parties, and offer monetizing opportunities. Trends in prices of bi-denominational EPS issued by the Ruling Party, would de facto, be interpreted as a gauge of its popularity in the Private and the Public. Since Popularity counts are critical to continued public support, the ECPX would serve as a reign on corruption, and incentivize parties to be correct in the conduct of their political and governance duties.

Trading in Political Capital attenuates Corruption two ways: it permits a means to extract rents attached political cognizance of various military, diplomatic, and economic issues through trades, and simultaneously enforces a deterrent in the form of publicly-reported, potentially adverse reactions in traded EPS prices. Political parties, ever cognizant of preserving political capital, would therefore strike a judicious balance between monetizing opportunities and averting undue political risk.

Much as fleecing, poisoning and violence is attenuated by legalizing drugs, so too legalizing the monetization of political rents, stances, statements and strategies sanitizes Politics. Much like snake-venom is an antidote to potentially fatal snake bites, so too is the trading of EPS at the EC Political Excange a necessary evil to augment the efficiency associated with democratic governance, and to strengthen our democratic fundamentals.

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1http://gprasadrao.blogspot.com/2015/02/regulatory-reform-orwreck-you-sooner_20.html

2That Political Exchange could be co-ordinated online by the EC, and could co-opt the domestic and foreign Press as Observers.

3Unlike Electoral Bonds that require citizenship and incorporation within the nation, Electoral Party Shares could be traded, free of such restrictions, to any qualifying entity that has pre-registered with the EC. It might however, be necessary to take cognizance of affiliations and so modify disclosure norms under RTI. Interestingly, both the high-denomination Private EPS and the low-denomination Public EPS traded by Political parties at the ECPX, could be held as Political Capital by firms listed at the Nominal exchanges. Such Political Capital, representing the intents and objectives of the Private and Public, would then inform and guide the firm in leveraging them toward maximizing its profits.

4All beneficiary Political Parties would have the right to trade Private and Public Electoral Political Shares at the ECPX anonymous of who had voted where, who had contributed how much in donations, or to whom they’d be traded to.

5This rather simplistic strategy might favor those Parties whose Private Donations lag Public Votes relative other parties. Such parties would be issued more Private Shares than they deserve. One could seek better answers, or leave it to the trading parties at the ECPX to solve it in ‘Trade aphysicals’ (ie, non-monetary favors, issuals or adjustments).

6An alternate allocation obtains when n is calibrated with values greater than 1. The calibrated value of n, whether greater than, or lesser than 1, determines the allocation made Parties with small Vote shares relative allocation to major Parties with significant Vote Share.

7The EC would set only the initial face value of the EPS, and thereafter not intervene to modify either price or quantity.

8Political Donors, anonymous to political parties in the scheme of Electoral Bonds devised by the EC, could, conceivably pre-register as trading members also. Opening Trading membership to foreign nationals and entities permits the political evaluation of various bilateral, multi-lateral and geopolitical, electoral and governance strategies.

9These trades would be quasi-confidential. Details concerning identity, prices and quantities regarding EPS trades, though held back in real time, would be available as appropriately averaged, or aggregated on a weekly or fortnightly basis, and in more detail when requested through the RTI channel post a longer, mandatory delay from the EC.

10This is not unlike a ‘Public Sustainability-Pol.Party Group ZS Justice-Personal Interests’ criterion employed by member of society to negotiate Status and Opportunities with other members and entities. Political Parties forge an understanding with the broader society that permits them the leverage to administer Group ZS Justice pareto to themselves and voting members of Society.

11These aspirations would be negotiated against the return of Political Currency, PC$, issued to the Voting Public by the relevant Aadhar entity at the Polls (Read https://gprao64.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-politics-and-economics-of.html). Since PC$ denote political intent to monetize, Voters who seek social justice and fulfillment of their private aspirations, would negotiate them against the voluntary return of their PC$ to the Political Party they voted for. High-Denomination EPS represent a negotiating instrument toward the same.

12Since a House is spread across many families, members of the House stake a future compatible with their skills and niche in the House.

13This is merely a statement to the effect the Reich Group to which the Private belongs would issue ZS-shared political control with the House.

14This is merely the PV issued Political parties contingent upon securing a ‘Personal AO Pareto’ with the House.

15The various futures and roles that a Private could conceivably claim beyond the House within one’s own Precinct could be issued (in disgust) to a worthy Political Significant.

16The irregularities from securing a Private Pareto with the Political could be egalitarian distributed through a ‘Pareto ZS Mirror’ beyond one’s immediate Precinct, perhaps with some opportunity.

17A Political Party might co-opt Social Significants in asserting Social control of its Citizens, along with the opportunistic (Private) issue of various RoW keys such as Wilderness FV, Sustainability FV, Frontier Technology FV, RoW Sovereign Havala FV, etc.

18A Political Party might cede Social control of its Citizens along with the opportunistic (Private) issue of various other (local egalitarian) keys such as Linguistic keys, Regional Resource Keys, and Egalitarian Bequeath FVs issued Local/Regional Political Leaders, etc.

19Those who buy EPS early in term, could trade them anytime in between, including end-of-term, when certain political parties or hopefuls within, seek assorted, but politically-meaningful wrongs cumulated in those shares that they may leverage toward their political pursuits. These wrongs cumulate in the ‘Now ZS Wrongs Repository’ of the traded EPS.

20These could include the Alternate Constituency, Local and foreign NGOs, Embassies of foreign Governments, Business Houses who may, or may not have supported political parties privately, Landlords, etc.

21Individual Party members would not be issued EPS from the Party Political Egg Endowment. They may however, participate at the ECPX and trade in EPS along with Party functionaries, or Party-constituted Committees.