With the world watching the American Presidential elections intently and its seeming impact on the state of affairs globally, Karnataka state went to the polls on Saturday, May 11 2008. It was a rather amusing experience for me, as it was for the first time that I witnessed an election as a bystander!! Nope, I did not vote!!
Now before you all jump to conclusions and classify me as an irresponsible citizen, let me make my interesting position clear. My voting constituency is in Mumbai, so essentially, in a Karnataka election, I don't get to vote!!!
Rather ironic, considering the outcome would affect me bigtime!! I work here, in the IT industry!! Much of the policy decisions that take place in the Karnataka Assembly would directly affect my job!! So I had an ulterior stake in getting my local brethren to exercise their franchise responsibly!!!
There was an interesting article that then appeared in the following Sunday news websites. Despairing news about the voter turnout, but rather interesting in its demographic analysis. Apparently it went on about the following points:
A few interesting insights develop here.
Firstly, rural India is more concerned with who governs them than Urban India. It is difficult to say whether New Age consumerism or old world apathy insulates the urban population from wanting political stability. However, I'm not sure whether urban India really understands the implication of long term political stability on their daily lives. True, most of them have food on the table, irrespective of who's in power, but eventually there is no explanation for not wanting more out of the political system.
Secondly, kitchen economics are a powerful motivating factor for demanding political stability. For a mother or wife who wants to ensure the best for her family, economic phenomena like inflation and commodity shortfalls are experienced and dealt with at an operational level. Compound that with the fact that the education levels of the population keep increasing, thanks to IT and new age economies in this Silicon Valley of the East!!!
Lastly, I believe there is a general decline in interest for casting one's ballot, as one takes part in more number of elections. A young voter who has just turned 18 cannot wait to get to the polls and "do it"!! Again, couple that with the increase in understanding and responsibility for the political selection process which goes beyond party ideologies and answers the simple question: "What can that particular candidate do for me??" The solution is to have fewer elections, by voting for more stable governments!!
Coalitions sadly cannot be eliminated, but its better to have a group of sensible cooks cooking the broth!!! Much lesser chance of them spoiling it!!
On a lighter note, the article also made a small observation on logistical problems:
However, army security personnel had difficulty communicating with the people. “Hindi ka problem hai. People don’t seem to understand what we say,’’ Sube Singh, a BSF officer said.
I understand the problem perfectly, my man!! I've been facing it for six months now!!!
Now before you all jump to conclusions and classify me as an irresponsible citizen, let me make my interesting position clear. My voting constituency is in Mumbai, so essentially, in a Karnataka election, I don't get to vote!!!
Rather ironic, considering the outcome would affect me bigtime!! I work here, in the IT industry!! Much of the policy decisions that take place in the Karnataka Assembly would directly affect my job!! So I had an ulterior stake in getting my local brethren to exercise their franchise responsibly!!!
There was an interesting article that then appeared in the following Sunday news websites. Despairing news about the voter turnout, but rather interesting in its demographic analysis. Apparently it went on about the following points:
- 72.5% people voted in the rural districts compared to the 44% BBMP residents
- Women outnumbered men in most booths
- First-time voters said candidates mattered to them and not parties
A few interesting insights develop here.
Firstly, rural India is more concerned with who governs them than Urban India. It is difficult to say whether New Age consumerism or old world apathy insulates the urban population from wanting political stability. However, I'm not sure whether urban India really understands the implication of long term political stability on their daily lives. True, most of them have food on the table, irrespective of who's in power, but eventually there is no explanation for not wanting more out of the political system.
Secondly, kitchen economics are a powerful motivating factor for demanding political stability. For a mother or wife who wants to ensure the best for her family, economic phenomena like inflation and commodity shortfalls are experienced and dealt with at an operational level. Compound that with the fact that the education levels of the population keep increasing, thanks to IT and new age economies in this Silicon Valley of the East!!!
Lastly, I believe there is a general decline in interest for casting one's ballot, as one takes part in more number of elections. A young voter who has just turned 18 cannot wait to get to the polls and "do it"!! Again, couple that with the increase in understanding and responsibility for the political selection process which goes beyond party ideologies and answers the simple question: "What can that particular candidate do for me??" The solution is to have fewer elections, by voting for more stable governments!!
Coalitions sadly cannot be eliminated, but its better to have a group of sensible cooks cooking the broth!!! Much lesser chance of them spoiling it!!
On a lighter note, the article also made a small observation on logistical problems:
However, army security personnel had difficulty communicating with the people. “Hindi ka problem hai. People don’t seem to understand what we say,’’ Sube Singh, a BSF officer said.
I understand the problem perfectly, my man!! I've been facing it for six months now!!!
