APATHY OF THE INDIAN VOTERS

Article 326 of the Indian constitution and Section 19 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1950 specify 18 years as the minimum age for registration as a voter in India. This has been made effective from 28th March, 1989 by bringing it down from the earlier 21 years of age through the 61st Amendment Act, 1988 of the constitution read with Act 21 of 1989.

The on-going General Elections, 2009 for the 15th Lok Sabha has been publicized like never before, atleast to say in terms of educating the voters to register themselves and thereby exercise their political right. The efforts made by various personalities from the different walks of life to the corporate groups like the ‘Tata’ through their brands’ ad campaign- “Tata Tea jaago re!- http://www.jaagore.com/”, has been commendable if not very fruitful.

Further it seems that we look at the figure of ‘18 years’ as a mark of our eligibility to either get entry in a pub or in a cinema hall to see an ‘A’ rated movie, rather than looking at it more maturely as an age to register as an eligible voter and choose our representatives to govern the country.

The polling percentage in the cities like Mumbai is unbelievably low and shocking. The reasons probably said by those who didn’t bother to vote may be endless, like:

• We wanted to enjoy a continuous three day weekend holiday.
• The weather was not conducive and we could have got sunburns.
• There were no suitable candidates to vote for……..and so on and so forth.

But, the two vital things that still pinches me in the context of Mumbaikars and will probably apply on the all India context later, has been:

• Why has there been a rush for voter’s registration? Was it a mere stunt to get an ID proof?
• How far is it true to call the post 26/11 candle light march an emotional farce?
• Has the united stand to resist the ‘uprising against the Hindi speaking community’ become a forgotten event by the time of polling, for a better change?

Before we conclude with the remaining two phases of this General Election, we as an Indian must take some lessons from the Mangloreans and our rural counterparts, who have, despite facing all odds in the past, come out in large numbers and cast their vote for a change………a change for their destiny and probably for the destiny of the nation.

So vote now, rather than sitting down and be regretful on the failures of the government in the matters of internal security, price rise and the negativities of the economic recession on our economy etc., l a t e r !