The "maximum city" of India, Mumbai, had civic elections last week. The voter turnout was meager, 45%. The richest civic body in India, the financial hub of the country and the absence of voters in such large numbers makes the predicament difficult to comprehend. What happened in Mumbai last week in the civic election is often seen in many other parts of the country during several elections. Why are we Indians so callous about our right of voting?
I interacted with some people who had preferred to stay home/go for movie/shopping instead of voting and the varied, enervated responses I received were, "I am too lazy and tired of going out and wait in the queue and go through the rigmarole of voting procedure. It is a holiday, why waste time on voting that does not make any difference to our life." "What difference does my one vote make?" "All the candidates are equally bad and I don't like any of the political parties either." "All parties are corrupt and politicians care hoots about common people like us." Every time, I listen to such lackadaisical, cliched remarks, I cringe and am deeply saddened! I bemoan lack of will to adhere to our civic duty and responsibility of voting.
The excuses mentioned above are from people who often complain about corruption, atrocious governance and bad politicians yet when it comes to bringing change, they shy away. No matter how justified peoples' anguish and frustration is, it makes no sense to abstain from voting. For any democracy, it is very important to have more voices out in open to question with erudite judgment as to what is wrong with its system and participate to create necessary change and awareness.
The frustration regarding profile of some candidates and ideologies of political parties is a huge challenge to cope with. I voted for the candidate who belonged to the political party whose ideology I don't agree with. The only reason I opted for it was that the candidate was highly educated while most of the candidates were barely educated and some even had criminal records. Constitution gives us right not to vote for any of the candidates under section 49(0). That way, we can reject candidates and bring better, deserving candidates.
Change can't be brought with some magic wand. We need to do our bit in creating change that we all are so eagerly awaiting for.
"Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles." Abbie Hoffman
I interacted with some people who had preferred to stay home/go for movie/shopping instead of voting and the varied, enervated responses I received were, "I am too lazy and tired of going out and wait in the queue and go through the rigmarole of voting procedure. It is a holiday, why waste time on voting that does not make any difference to our life." "What difference does my one vote make?" "All the candidates are equally bad and I don't like any of the political parties either." "All parties are corrupt and politicians care hoots about common people like us." Every time, I listen to such lackadaisical, cliched remarks, I cringe and am deeply saddened! I bemoan lack of will to adhere to our civic duty and responsibility of voting.
The excuses mentioned above are from people who often complain about corruption, atrocious governance and bad politicians yet when it comes to bringing change, they shy away. No matter how justified peoples' anguish and frustration is, it makes no sense to abstain from voting. For any democracy, it is very important to have more voices out in open to question with erudite judgment as to what is wrong with its system and participate to create necessary change and awareness.
The frustration regarding profile of some candidates and ideologies of political parties is a huge challenge to cope with. I voted for the candidate who belonged to the political party whose ideology I don't agree with. The only reason I opted for it was that the candidate was highly educated while most of the candidates were barely educated and some even had criminal records. Constitution gives us right not to vote for any of the candidates under section 49(0). That way, we can reject candidates and bring better, deserving candidates.
Change can't be brought with some magic wand. We need to do our bit in creating change that we all are so eagerly awaiting for.
"Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles." Abbie Hoffman
