Cast away!

We, the batch of ’88 avidly look ahead to tread the first step towards the change, to cast the first vote towards the change! Excitement, vigour, determination and a sense of pride flushes through, as we sight this as accomplishing our most fundamental right - responsibility - duty. Alas! I feel resentment. And many would share my plight of not being able to exercise the right, the first step into adulthood. As they chant and we realize, elections form the soul of the democracy, conferring on us the right to exist, sustain and live the ‘our-way’ of it and voting is how we exercise this!

Unfortunately, the Republic of India falls short at providing this to its citizens. A 3^rd year engineering student racking my head in the final exams that I take now, I miss the two IPLs. Yes the Indian Political League forms the second. And many would be stuck up with their jobs at places where they don’t exist in accord to the Democracy’s lists, the voters’ list. The media and rigorous campaigning has stirred up young India dramatically. So much so that it has prodded the often politically aloof youngsters around me to start talking on the issues and hauling them to the ballot. But ballot they don’t reach! My name proudly stands in the lists for the constituency of Agra, and I humbly sit in an examination hall in Nagpur. But there are my many friends to console me as they drudgingly sail in the same waters, sailing far away from the elections at their shores.

62 years on and the country hasn’t reached its citizens the basic right, and they keep talking of bijli and paani (sadly, that too futile). 62 years on and we still exhaust ourselves in the simplest of all castings. 62 years on and we pass miserably at this eligibility test as a democracy. Booming India, and in booming percentages has the youth wandered far from their towns and cities, to study, work and boom India. Swelling number of people has cast away its right to cast.

We deem to be a pillar in the international political and economic axes, a pillar to be reckoned by all, but can’t redeem and revise our system? Pace for progress should be this slow? Its time the Commission pace up its plans and execute them. Modify and progress with the times and needs. I see a solution to my resentment and others’ right to their right-duty. Revising completely the roll list of voters and its formation procedures, making it thorough would be one. Next would be to get the whole system online. It could be formed on the basis of railway ticketing and booking. Each voter could be given its unique ID number that could exercise and have access only once with validity lasting the voting hours for the particular constituency it’s meant to be, from anywhere and any online polling booth across the country. The secret ballot and the indelible ink remain crucial, playing their part. Once the vote is cast, the name and ID number would be ticked and counted in the electoral list generated in the main database. The ID would then be invalid for use everywhere. Of course we need to keep a vigil on its vulnerability. The US follows some online system, as so do many developed nations.

This new system I assume wouldn’t be that tough for the commission to follow provided its ready to dedicate itself to its work, working meticulously and thoroughly. Oh! No. I don’t blame its credibility. Having wrong and erroneous voter ID cards with switched over sexes, ludicrously wrong birth years, even distributing ones with birth years as ’94 (my friend’s elder brother!), is a small bearable fault. Leave alone the failure in delivery of the cards to many.

Providing its citizens with a right to avail all rights would be the basic essence of any democracy. Boasting of the largest democracy, we need to be quick in mastering this feat, for this would be the first stone for proper governance, better policies and the Janta’s choice and adept representation that would work in accordance to the will of the citizens of India.