By Default?

I don't know why ideas for snippets have this disconcerting way of popping up in my head either when I am leaving for work or at work. Then, my inability to set my fingers tapping on my keyboard immediately ensures that I forget what it was I wanted to write. (See? Instant gratification has its uses!)

So it was today too. I was at work when I saw some whatsapp message about going to vote. Or was it someone talking about voting? Never mind! Long and short of the story is that the message said "We get the kind of leaders we do, because we don't vote."

This brought to mind the advertisement "Tabhi toh!" where an uncouth politician thanks somebody for bringing him to power. The guy says he did not vote and the politician replies "tabhi toh!"

Makes one think, doesn't it? Going by that logic, if 60-70% of the population votes, we should have a similar proportion of good law makers in the Parliament. Only the remaining should be louts. But that does not seem to be the case (at least not if one watches the Parliament channel or the way politicians are electioneering). Does that mean that that 60-70% do not count? What seems to be more important is the ones who do not vote (according to the message of the ad). Their lackadaisical approach is sufficient to ensure that we get bad leaders. Isn't that the logical conclusion of the message? So why go vote at all? Anyway, does it mean that we should abstain from voting anyway, since our votes don't count? Or nothing but a 100% turnout will do, because 1 individual not voting will tip the scale in the other direction, never mind what the 99.99999999% said?

I am not trying to say we should not vote. We MUST. But we can only choose from whatever is on offer. Or do a NOTA. So what is the point of blaming somebody who keeps themselves out of this entire quandary?

 

There could be so many reasons for not going to vote.

1. Name not on list. Not always for want of effort on part of the citizen, but due to an inept bureaucracy. Do you know I had to get my card made 3 times before they could spell my name and get my date of birth right?
People truly don't have so much time to keep chasing down the bureaucracy to get the voters card. To get it one is driven from office to office and then they dump a huge pile on the table from which one has to search out one's own card At the end of half an hour, it is quite likely your card may not have come.

2. People are unable to travel to the centre because they are old, invalid, have nobody to take them to the centre .....

3. Truly and really don't know whom to vote for - nobody suits the bill. In our constitutency, apart from the two main contenders, there were a list of independent candidates. One has never seen them, heard of them, leave alone know about their leanings. Who knows which party they will join after the elections to tot up the party's numbers while getting a seat for themselves?

And then there are those who risk life and limb to vote and then to be told that people only get the leader they deserve!!!

 

For some reason Geeta, people seem to be allergic to discussing political matters. It appears we treat it like a taboo topic. And yet it is our duty to vote. One more of those 'taboo' topics about which we have an ambiguous approach.

I too had heard about water, wheel chairs etc being made available at polling booths. Forget wheel chairs, there was not even water. Thanks to the wonderful roads provided by the ones we voted to power, I tore the same ligament in the same ankle (3 months ago) on my way to the polling booth. That changed my mind about whom I was going to vote for!!! It changed the outcome of the election by one vote. I must admit that I managed to get in without waiting in the line. After coming out, sat in the shade playing with a 6 wk old pup which had come with her sister to vote.

Hope we get a good government. More importantly, hope they stop behaving stupid the way they are and hope whichever party is in the opposition behaves more responsibly and makes for a constructive opposition. High time they started behaving like mature adults.

 

Thanks a lot Adharv.