just like that

Come May 8, yet another assembly election will happen in TamilNadu and yet again, it will most probably be the AIADMK or the DMK combine which will come to power. I was talking to a couple of my friends the other day and they all sounded pessimistic about the whole process. They were lamenting the fact that how neither of the parties had done anything for the development of the state. They said there was no point in voting.

Although there is some truth in whatever they said, I don't think shying away from voting is the right thing to do. It is not just a democratic right; it is the duty of each and every citizen to vote. I believe most of the educated people do nothing but complain about the Government policies (or the lack of it), but shy away from voting at the time of elections. Then what right do these people have to complain? The real voting is done by the poor and illiterate of the country who are swayed by the false promises made by the politicians. It is little wonder then that most of the manifestos include promises of free TV, rice at 2 Rs etc. The real development issues never gain importance.

Iam not asking people to vote for someone they don't like; rather there is an option of not supporting any party but still exercising your vote. Under the 1961 Election Rules, Section 49-o provides the voter the option of registering that he doesn't wish to vote for anyone. However, this needs to be expressed at the time of voting in the booth and not before. The problem of course is that this is first of all not known to many people. Even many officers at the election booths are not aware of this. Since no party is going to publicise this aspect of voting, it is up to the election commission to make the voter aware of it. Of course, the additional problem is that the present Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) don’t have a button where the voter can register this. So this needs to be registered with the election officer at the booth which once again raises the question of secrecy of ballot. When the voter's choice of party at time of voting is kept confidential, people argue that even this must be confidential.

However, despite all the problems, this type of voting is useful for two reasons
1. When u want to vote but don't like any of the candidates
2. when the percentage of voters who have voted under 49-o is greater than the percentage of voters of the winning candidate, the election commission calls for re-election in the constituency and none of the candidates who stood initially can stand as they have already been rejected by the voters.

We can just imagine the situation even if it happens even in one constituency - The otherwise busy media will focus all its attention on this and as a result, 49-0 will get wide spread publicity. Political parties will be more concerned about whom they are nominating in every constituency, probably resulting in better candidates. I am not saying this will create a revolution, but we can at least try. A social awareness movement has been started in TamilNadu by Gnani (a renowned writer and thinker) and a few others who are now spreading this message by distributing pamphlets on all buses leaving Chennai to various parts of TamilNadu. The initial response, they say, has been very encouraging. Their web-link is
http://www.keetru.com/ohpodu/index.html

My request to everyone who have read so far is this - Please exercise your vote. It is something you owe to yourself and your country. If you are not satisfied with the candidates, still exercise your vote under 49-o. Spread this awareness to your friends and family. Let this election set a trend for the years to come!