Could US election do with an India-style Model Code of Conduct and Election Commission?
US Election News Live Updates
State-wise voting times in IST & when to expect early trends
US will make history. For the right reasons, or the wrong.
Excitement, of course, is always when personalities involved are 'colourful' and the election process itself is high-octane low entertainment. Racist and misogynistic remarks have flown thick and fast. For months, the US has been locked in a veritable civil war, polarised not only by 'donkey' and 'elephant', but also by ethnic, class, urban-rural, collegiate and non-collegiate divisions, these divisions not necessarily cutting across each other neatly. The election has even appeared to be a fight between America's men and women.
Electoral India seems to fare better. Sure, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) could be served better. But it has served well so far. Yes, arguments over the efficacy of the 60-yr-old MCC abound. But without it, campaign discourse could go the American way.
Large democracies can ill afford residues of ugly election campaigns, especially when those edged out in the contest also have the support of a significant proportion of the voting population. Falsehood, and demonisation, may excite and yield votes. But these Frankenstein's monsters stay on to devour the very social fabric. It's tempting, in this context, to imagine if an MCC in US elections could have contained the rhetorical rot.
American elections have had close calls. John F Kennedy won by the narrowest margin of 0.17% against Richard Nixon in 1960. Results were not
