Powerless Power

Posted by Sharvari on 28/04/2009

You have the power in your hands-Your vote

I wonder if we really do? How can u make your vote count, if all the candidates contesting are not competent? By non-competency I mean... some are criminals, some are uneducated and some are both. Will you be able to live with yourself if you vote for a criminal? If your answer is yes, then suppose in the future you become a victim of any such criminal activities, can you firmly ask for justice? What right have you got to claim justice, when you yourself have fostered such activities by voting in a criminal. If you vote for an uneducated, what example are u setting for the world? Picture this. India- one of the BRIC countries has a PM who is not even matric pass. What a shame! If the representative of your country is uneducated, what attitude will the outside world will have towards you. I am not saying that illiterate people cannot make good leaders. Sure they can. People mob politicians, whenever they are on a visit. But is leadership defined by the number of people you can pull to your rallies? Some might say they will exercise Rule 49-O of the Indian constitution, which empowers the elector to cast a no-vote. A hoax has been circulating which claims that if the '49-O' votes more than those of the winning candidate, then that poll will be canceled and will have to be re-polled. Furthermore, it claims that the contestants will be banned and they cannot contest the re-polling for their life time. (courtesy:  wikipedia). Lack of proper voter turnout is also one of the major issues that concerns the true and fair elections. Majority of the casted votes are either of the people in the rural areas or of slum dwellers. These people again due to lack of education function by hearts and not by their minds. For eg:- If some fatass(sorry for the word)  goes and distributes cash in Dharavi, he/she is upheld as their leader and it is obvious that he is going to win. The root of the problem lies in the mindset of the educated middle class. Here is an example how most of the non-voters think.... As it is this region is the stronghold of some XYZ party. It is going to win whether I vote or not. My vote will not make a difference. And those who vote think.... This XYZ party is strong here. Even if I vote for a clean candidate from an ABC party, he is not going to win. I would rather vote for XYZ than let my vote go waste.  Can we move forward with this mindset? If you believe in a certain candidate is it not your duty to vote for him and assure him victory? Even if a thousand think like this it will make a huge difference. Even if a clean candidate loses, he would be encouraged by a thousand votes and contest more rigorously next time. It is not important, whether the candidate you vote for wins or loses. It is important that you cast your vote for the right person. I hope better sense prevails this election and power does not prove powerless anymore!