The great Indian Elections are a few days away. These elections will hopefully lead to one of the politician becoming the Prime Minister of India who would be responsible for "running" this democracy of ours. Every time there is some new issue but this time there is a strong movement asking the young electorate to stand up and vote. A huge number of forums and websites have sprung up urging the same.
Initially, I was also very excited and felt proud that so many people are making an effort to spread the message. All of us must and should vote. It is our fundamental right and we should exercise it.
Having said that I sat up and looked at the people fighting for the post of Prime Minister this time around.
On one side we have an 80 year old leader who has been vying for this post throughout his life. Some newspaper brought out the exact thought that I had in mind... “If we expect the people who work in and run the companies to retire at the age of 60 years, why should we vote for a Prime Ministerial candidate who is 80 and is supposed to form the policies which would affect all those companies?” Shouldn’t there be a retirement age in politics as well...
I realised that he is many generations apart and I can’t expect him to think and act for the future though I appreciate him for trying to be tech savvy.
This leads me to the current Prime Minister. Though I really respect him as an economist, I really don’t know why I should vote for him. Oh! I forgot. He is not even contesting any constituency. So I really can't vote for him.
I get stuck at the fact that if he is not elected by the people, why should he represent India? People may argue that constitutionally it’s alright but then the constitution consists of rules which were based on some rationale and I guess this is just an example of ways to follow those rules but not the rationales.
Though I really don’t want to talk about the third possibility as it scares me (trust me), for the sake of completeness let me present to you the Third Front. This supposedly Third Front consists of people who all consider themselves as Prime Ministerial candidates. Just to prove my point, they could not even decide who the Prime Minister would be if by chance they win the majority.
This leads me to the 3 words at the end of this post’s title. What’s the point of voting when I know that I do not want any of the fielded candidates to become the Indian Prime Minister?
The constitution did provide a way out for people like me... I can write on a piece of paper that I do not vote for any candidate and can submit it to the Electoral Officer... But this is India and I know how much value a piece of paper carries.
I guess it would be better for the forums and websites to push for a law which will add this option in the Electronic Voter Machines so that next time someone like me expresses his/her opinion by not voting for any candidate, it actually counts.
Atleast go and screw up your vote even if you don't want to vote for anyone because that atleast prevents it from being misused.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the point of having an electronic "I vote for noone" option? Even if that option does get a significant number of votes, does it mean that you'll have more 'worthy' candidates the next time? I like the idea but I'm not sure what it will achieve.
ReplyDelete@nishant2984: I agree but still it does not solve the issue at hand...
ReplyDelete@DreamyEyedFool: Well when the majority of the votes are for noone, the election gets null and void and has to be repeated. This may lead to atleast some parties fielding 'worthy' candidates in the repeated election
BOSS...i dont even have a photo ID card yet. So for me it's not about to vote or not to vote. It's simple CANNOT vote..
ReplyDeleteAnd before you start rambling about how I should have tried, let me tell you I did. I went through the whole procedure of getting one made - including going to the concerned office and pointing out to them that they had completely messed up the names and pictures of my family members such that my father's picture appeared next to my mother's name on her ID. But all this to no avail. I don't have my ID yet...
@ivin: Baba, why don't you enter politics, many girls will vote for you, our families will do, you might end up winning, we can use you later then
ReplyDeleteits like a vicious circle, people keep saying the youth does not enter politics... and the youth does not enter because poiltics is full of hopeless tactical games of money and power.. the question is what will break the cycle ?
ReplyDeletewell,,, well.. well nothing is going to happen whatever u or ur literate friend may try. the party who has been in power most of the independent Indian history has made sure that people do not come to the state where somehow or the other your parents have brought u to be. Literate and intelligent with logical reasoning and power to differentiate between good and bad. majority of people in this country only think of the possibility of the nxt meal for them and their children. So till the time everyone has a right to food and education this country is going to be in the state that it is in.
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