At the end of the III phase of 2009 Lok Sabha elections, India stands with a 60% voter turnout. Sounds satisfactory if not overwhelming, but what worries me the most is that our polling percentage has just increased by a lowly 3.3% (the total polling percentage in 1999 and 2004 Lok Sabha elections was 59.99 percent and 58.07 percent respectively) as compared to what it was in the 2004 elections. The picture becomes even gloomier when we break the numbers and figure out that it's mostly the urban and educated mass who don't excerise their right to franchise.
Several pleas have been made and lawsuits filed to make voting compulsory in India, however to no avail. Recently, L.K. Advani and Narendra Modi sparked off the debate by asking EC to make voting mandatory for every Indian. Advani et al. pointed that the reason for low voter turnout in 2009, is partly due to the 2009 elections being held in the summer (when most of the India is sweltering from scorching heat wave) and because voters are fed up of seeing one or other election every second year. He went on suggest that inorder to increase the voter participation, the Indian constitution should be amended to fix the terms of Lok Sabha and assembly elections so that even if a government loses majority, it is allowed to complete its term. Why Mr. Advani pointed it out after the III phase of elections is another very interesting topic of discussion (BJP depends a lot on voting by the urban middle class population to come back in power) ?
Focusing back on the main topic - While I am inclined to agree with L.K. Advani that the elections should be held in the month of February. But, his second idea to increase the voter participation is erroneous and unthoughtful, because having a fixed term means 'zero accountability.' Stability is important, but not at the cost of accountability, and the latter is of supreme importance to the well-functioning of this country. Rather, one obvious reason for lack of voter enthusiasm or interest, which all the political advocates of compulsory voting fail to mention is, the absence of taintless and trustworthy candidates. Majority of the candidates contesting the elections are involved or convicted in some sort of crimes or scandals. More than 200 candidates who ran for the parliament in the 1st phase of 2009 elections have a criminal record. How do we expect the voters to vote for the candidates who they know are not going to work for their welfare and development? How does political parties expect us to vote for goons, criminals, and fanatics?
On the other hand, since India is a democracy it is the duty of Indians to participate in the elections and elect our government. May be most of the candidates are corrupt, but there are honest, progressive, and truly secular candidates like Meera Sanyal and Captain Gopinath, who have the will and determination to take India on the path of development and eradicate corruption & inequities. Presence of such candidates will not only result in good governance, but will also drive other young & talented Indians to enter our political system. India must stand UNITED and vote for the candidates who have the drive to bring the CHANGE we are looking for.
Yes, voting should be made compulsory, but before that Election Commission must make it compulsory that all the contesting candidates have a clean image, no criminal record, and certain educational qualifications. The political parties should justify that their candidates truly deserve the VOTE of Indian Junta.
-Kartavya Jain
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2 comments:
But KJ, how can one making voting compulsory? I should be allowed to not vote if I don't like any of the choices, political debate doen't interest me etc. While I do agree that the candidates need to give us a better reason to vote for them, I think compulsory voting is not the answer.
Yes, I agree with you that it's tough to vote when you don't like any of the candidates. But, that's where the EC needs to stand-up and give voters a good pool of candidates to choose from. On the other hand, voters should atleast go and vote for the deserving candidates. We can't always put all the blame on government & politicians, we need to share the responsibility. All the candidates are not bad, but people still don't vote for them and so that's why I believe it's OK to have compulsory voting if we have good candidates to choose from. We require a tight system in place to improve our political system.
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