Can Indian voters improve election process enhancing accountability, transparency and expeditiousness for selecting CM or PM?

Yes, by having the political parties going into state (Vidhan Sabha) or parliamentary (Lok Sabha) elections announce before the elections the names of potential Govt. leaders (chief ministerial or prime ministerial candidates), in addition to these CM or PM candidates also run in the elections to win a seat as MLA (member of legislative assembly in Vidhan Sabha) or as MP (member of parliament in Lok Sabha). Moreover, in case any political party does not announce the name of its CM candidate before the state elections or its PM candidate before the parliamentary elections, the voters should boycott that political party by not casting votes in favor of its candidates trying to get elected as MLAs or MPs.

The political parties declaring the names of their chief ministerial candidates or prime ministerial candidates before the elections and making them run to win a seat as MLA or MP is the most effective way to avoid unnecessary delay, confusion, horse-trading and deal-making after the elections for a potential Govt. leader to assume the office quickly as a new CM or PM and head the new Govt.

Besides, it will ensure that any negotiations among the political parties after the elections to name a new CM or PM before forming a new Govt. in the state or nationally, especially in a minority Govt. situation, involve chiefly the pre-election declared CM or PM candidates (having by now also won seats as MLA or MP), thus upholding the electoral integrity and voter confidence with respect to the choice of a new CM or PM heading a new Govt. while lessening the undue influence and intrusion from outsiders (special interests groups, party bosses and those not participating in the election directly to become MLA or MP).

Conversely, by not declaring the names of candidates for CM in state elections (or PM in parliamentary elections) by the political parties can lead to many problems later while undermining the democratic process. The state elections in Maharashtra recently, for example, took place more than a month ago, where the political parties had entered the elections without announcing the names of their CM candidates beforehand. Even though the election results for the 288 seat House (Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha) were out more than a month ago (as of Oct. 24, 2019, the parties winning most seats: BJP = 105 seats, Shiv Sena = 56 seats, Congress = 44 seats, NCP = 54 seats), there is still no new CM and new Govt. to this day (Nov. 27) in Maharashtra, because no single party won the absolute majority (the required minimum 145 seats) to name a new CM and form a new Govt. on its own. Thus there is now a big tussle and long delay involving various parties and outsiders to agree on the choice of a new CM and a minority coalition Govt.

The things in Maharashtra however did not need now to be so confusing and uncertain in spite of no single party winning absolute majority in elections, as demonstrated by the recent parliamentary election in Canada where the political parties regularly declare the names of their potential Govt. leaders (candidates for the post of provincial premier or federal prime minister) before the provincial or federal elections (Ref. 1). The results of Canadian parliamentary election on Oct. 21, 2019 (just a few days ahead of Maharashtra elections) in 338 seat House of Commons (the Canadian Parliament) included the Liberal Party (with Justin Trudeau as the declared PM candidate who ran and won a seat as MP) with most seats at 157 seats, followed by the Conservative party (with Andrew Scheer as the PM candidate who ran and won a seat as MP).winning 121 seats. Although the Liberal party won most seats, it did not get the absolute majority (the required minimum 170 seats) and even received less popular vote than the Conservative Party. Yet, Mr. Trudeau (the Liberal Party’s prime ministerial candidate) was able quickly (less than a week after the elections) to assume the office of PM and form a minority Govt. Perhaps the same thing would have happened in Maharashtra, leading to a new CM and new Govt. quickly, if the political parties there also had declared the names of their CM candidates before the state elections.

References

(1) Subhash C. Sharma, “Difference in parliamentary elections to the Lower House of Parliament in Canada and India,” Oct. 22, 2019, http://creative.sulekha.com/difference-in-parliamentary-elections-to-the-lower-house-of-parliament-in-canada-and-india_637670_blog

: Subhash C. Sharma