You Have The Power!

When I was just about 18 years of age, I exercised my right to vote during a city Mayor election. It was a great feeling of exercising my power to choose the right candidate. The candidate whom I voted for won the elections and it gave me a sense of triumph.

The power to vote is a wonderful right given to the citizens of India. The incidences of booth capturing and riots which used to terrorise and make the citizens aversive to cast their votes have been largely controlled today. Yet even today the voter turnouts are not a complete 100% during elections.

One reason has been the blunders made on voter cards. In fact, I had a bad experience in getting a voter’s card generated for myself. I still remember waiting in a long queue for several hours to submit my application for a voter’s card. The person handling this activity was alone in a small office filled with open racks touching the ceiling of the room. All these racks were completely filled with voter card applications collecting a lot of dust. I wondered how this frail man would manage to get all these innumerable applications processed. He even gave me his personal number to check on my application status. I managed to get my card well in advance before the approaching elections but my surname was printed incorrectly even after producing the required certificates to the authority. I wrote several emails to the election commission and then gave up. However, fortunately, I was able to exercise my right to vote with my existing card. So, I conclude that if we are persistent we can at least get our job done.

The second reason for non- participation could be the common thinking that my vote is not going to change anything and that there is no candidate eligible to get elected.

In my view, each vote counts. If every citizen starts thinking like this then nothing is going to change. It is important to have an opinion about the ongoing governance in the nation. After all, such governance affects our lives directly or indirectly.

We have enough media sources available such as the print media, television and also the digital media to learn about what progress our country has done and in which areas we are lagging behind. The more informed we are, the wiser decisions we can take in choosing the right candidate.

For some people, a particular party would always hold importance to them irrespective of any kind of circumstances. Such people are hard-core followers and then there are other sets of people who are not loyal to a single party. They gauge all the pros and cons and then cast their vote.

My experience has taught me that one needs to be motivated to exercise this right. One should take pride in it. Never belittle your rights.

Elections are not just a battleground for the contesting parties and the candidates, it is a foundation for the future development of our country. We can make or break it. The choice is in our hands.