It’s another “dry day” in Mumbai today. After a month of voting and waiting across India, the result of the 2009 Lok Sabha election is finally out.
Congratulations to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance! Their win means that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will remain in power. He’ll be first Prime Minister to serve a second term since Jawaharlal Nehru, four decades ago.
What a relief that the election is over.
I’ve never liked politics, let alone Indian politics. Working for the government in Melbourne and getting to see how the politicians behaved in their playground, better known as Parliament House, was very discouraging.
Indian politics takes the games to a whole new level though.
In Mumbai, the apathy shown towards the election shocked many people. Less than 45% of citizens voted — the lowest statistic since 1977. Why? Various reasons including their names being missing from the voters’ list, laziness, heat, lack of good candidates, and personal work.
Over the other side of the country, in Chennai, another surprising phenomena was witnessed on voting day. The voter turnout, of around 60%, was much higher. However, according to reports, over 10,000 people marked their presence at the polling booth but refused to vote for any candidates.
This threw polling officers into a state of confusion. Many had no idea that such an option, under Rule 49-O of The Conduct of Elections Rules 1961, existed.
The fact that citizens chose this option is a harsh indication that they didn’t consider any candidates to be worthy of their vote.
There’s another troublesome thing about the election in India — the secrecy of the ballot is difficult to maintain. Agents representing the election candidates are allowed to sit at every table where votes are being counted. They can see the polling booth numbers marked on the electronic voting machines (EMVs), and the number of votes polled for each candidate.
The danger in this is that the political parties will get to know, in detail, the voting preferences of people in every area.
In Mumbai, there’s concern that if a party finds out it wasn’t supported by voters in a certain slum pocket, members could seek revenge and get the huts demolished. Would such a thing really happen? With parties such as the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which are known for violence and retribution, sadly anything is possible.
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- The Wisdom of Indian Politics
- Racist Attacks on Indian Students in Australia
- Would this Stop Men from Peeing in Public in Mumbai?
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
thanks sharrell, now I can even find out about major current affairs of India via your blog as well.
I had missed out catching up on this one on NDTV over here… If you guys are ever having a get together at the Ivy leaf in two weeks commencing 25th May onwards let me know I’ll pop in too as I am in Mumbai at the time. My mail id is amit_shrivastava@hotmail.com
Hmmm, Why would you want to vote? The British style of government didn’t suite India when it was under British rule and it doesn’t suite now. It needs a complete overhaul and must stop letting criminals contest elections. Its just crazy, how can you trust a political leader when they are running their party behind bars? It’s just crazy!
I’m really pleased that Congress won again though and I think the Dr M Singh is doing a great job but I’m putting my future in the hands of Rahul Gandhi, he will be a great leader for India when his time comes.
I agree with you V. I was reading in the newspaper today about all the political candidates in Mumbai with criminal records. It’s appalling. I also think Rahul Gandhi would be an exceptional leader. He’s been doing a fabulous job of getting in touch with the Indian people. Travelling around and meeting everyone (even in really hot weather), discussing their issues, and not making empty promises. India really needs more people like him — who are genuinely caring, understanding, and upstanding. Not like these other clowns.
Amit — sounds like a good plan. Any excuse to go to the Ivy!
We can talk about your blog too!!
Absolutely Sharrell, that’s my attitude as well, any excuse.
It’ll be nice to have wine in India!! Believe it or not I’ve never had wine in India!! (my favorite tipple was always beer or whiskey in the days of yore) I’m sure they do good ones there now. As for the blog yes, believe you me I’ve been giving it some thought. let’s see…We should sync up our diaries via email.
And I agree with you guys about Rahul Gandhi as well. This victory is mostly attributed to his strategy so he’s already proved his pedigree, let’s see how he does in the next 5 years and how many young leaders he succeeds in bringing to the fore/cabinet. It’s quite a refreshing bro/sis combo this – Rahul and Priyanka.
Dear sharell,
We Indians are very good at conceptualizing things, very good at planning things, but very poor in implementing things. Since the days of independence in 1947 the government of India has initiated various poverty alleviation and infrastructure development programmes , but all these programmes have yielded little results. Even after 60 years of independence we have not been able to utilize our full growth potential. If this scenario needs to be changed there should be a change in our thinking right at the grass root level.
The urban infrastructure in Indian cities is unsatisfactory and far below the world standards. Civic amenities are equally bad. A large part of the population in Indian cities lives in slums. If India is to emerge as a super power in this century we have to reduce poverty, improve the infrastructure, standard of education, health care etc. Unfortunately India is lagging behind in all these indicators of human development. The previous Indian governments made tall promises about improving the lives of the public but have so far not fulfilled these promises.
Corruption in various government departments is quite rampant which makes a mockery of the whole system. Slums exist in Indian cities because of the corruption and inefficiency of the government departments. Slums in cities serve as the vote bank of Indian politicians and are thus not removed from cities.
The time has come for the people of India to rise to the occasion and stop expecting much from the government. No person ,community or nation can progress without self realization and that self realization comes through education and by observing the good points of other people.
India can draw inspiration from China in this aspect. Both countries became independent from foreign imperialist rule at exactly the same time but China is now way ahead of India as far as economic and infrastructure development is concerned. We have a lot to learn from China as far as economic and infrastructure development is concerned.
The entry of private players in infrastructure development and education
has offered many Indians a glimmer of hope. Indian multinationals and entrepreneurs are doing equally well. A large part of Indian economy is now being owned by private companies which has resulted in rapid economic growth. India is a country where hope overcomes pessimism.
If the financial reforms and economic growth continue at this pace India can become the third largest economy in the world by 2020 and even overtake the American economy by 2035. India will then become the world’s second largest economy next only to China.
Shaunak — it’s true, India and Indians have so much potential. It’s evident by how successful Indians are when they leave India and establish themselves in the western world, which doesn’t have all the obstacles (poor infrastructure, corruption etc.) that India has. It’s just so frustrating seeing everything that could be done in India, and how well India could progress, if initiatives were implemented properly. I really hope that India does move ahead but there are so many ingrained challenges to overcome. Once step at a time I guess though!