There's so much said about poor turnout in ongoing elections in Karnataka.Many reasons are attributed such as being 'fedup' with the system, corruption etc.These may be true , still a little effort could go a long way in getting the urban voters to the polling booths. Wait. In this age of emails, sms is there a need to get the voter to the booths at all? Day in and Day out we have the networks asking voters to sms 'yes' or 'no' to questions like 'Do you think Shah Rukh Khan's left dimple is sexy?' or is 'Rahul all that gutsy?' It could be Dravid or the Yuvraj kumar of Indian Politics.If the Election Comission could get people to vote thro' sms/ computers, urban votes would easily double. Of course, our techies should be given the job of making it tamper -proof.Why does EC plan an election on a Saturday? It's all fine to say'For democracy, you have to take that much trouble'.Weekend is a prized possession and not many would like that to be tampered with. Some of my friends don't go to Rly station or Airport to fetch their Mother-in -law if she lands up on a week end..We must have an election on a Wednesday always.Wednesdays are sentinels and cannot be clubbed to a Monday or a Friday.And in one day, you can't go out of town and dash back.Finally why give a holiday at all ? Make the voting time from 6 a.m. to 11p.m.. This will easily swell the numbers.Office -goers can vote before they lave for work or after they come back.
Small adjustments will help reap better results.We must make it easier for people to vote..And again not too easy lest they run away for a short vacation!
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Losing one weekend is not a big deal.Giving up 'one holiday' is also not a big deal.People don't vote once every month.At maximum they vote twice in five years.The EC announces the date well in advance.If we don't vote then we don't have any rights to tell that goverment is corrupt or blame the goverment for the inadequate infrastructure, for lack of security, etc.Your suggestion of voting on wednesday would not give the desired results.The whole working class people are quite large in number.Everyone will not be able to vote between 6:00a.m to 8:00am and 7:00p.m to 11:00p.m.If you are talking about people who can't spend one weekend then there is no way they are going to be there early in the morning or late in the evening(they would be tried).Voting is the basic right of every citizen.If we are going to forget this right then we should be prepared to forgot the others too..
The idea of voting through computers are great, but to produce a tamper-proof one is not quite possible.
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