With only three weeks to go for the first round of the three-phase Bihar elections, all political parties are busy finalising their candidates. There already seems to be a scramble of sorts for backward caste votes, which are likely to make or mar the prospects of most parties. Given this reality, and the fact that India's election system is based on the first-past-the-post model, all of them are likely to keep caste arithmetic and permutations in mind while fielding candidates. This means candidate selection will be influenced not necessarily by the person’s suitability but win ability. Is this good for our democracy? Can there be an alternative process? Selecting candidates is the first but most important step in the election process. The more robust, transparent and merit-based it is, the higher the chances of finding a popular and deserving candidate. Yet, political parties in the world's largest democracy, as India claims to be, follow the most undemocratic, opaque, nepotism-influenced and patronage-driven process of candidate selection. India elects 790 members of parliament and 4,123 members of legislative assemblies. They are supposed to represent and meet the aspirations of 130 crore Indians. But all parties without exception follow a centralised selection process. A central election committee takes the final decision and once a selection has been done, there is no institutionalised mechanism for a review. In this system, the voters have no say in the choice of candidates they will ultimately elect. If the poll process has to be reformed and cleansed, it is time parties start from here. The US follows the system of primaries and this has served the country well. The AAP in 2013 and the Congress in 2014 experimented with a version of primaries. In the AAP model, any person who, through a signature campaign, got the support of 100 people could vie for the party's election ticket. Five candidates in each constituency were shortlisted, screened by a committee and interviewed. The party won 28 of the 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly in its electoral debut. But unfortunately since then, both the AAP and the Congress have abandoned this process. Maybe it's time to give this a second chance.