Hyderabad|India|April'2009:
Don’t be lethargic. Just go and vote. Your vote is your weapon. The
greatest rights any free people can have is the right to vote. An election
is a decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual
to hold formal office Shunning the ballot box does not solve the problem.
Democracy needs constant involvement of, and monitoring by, the
people"Just" one vote can and often does make a difference in the outcome
of an election… blah…blah…. Print and electronic media yelled and have
been yelling. How could that not inspire us the children? I was wondering
why people don’t go to vote. Don’t any one ask them if they don’t vote. So
we decided to witness the power of voting and that too live. And the
occasion was the first phase of elections on 16th, informed jubiliant
students of Abhyasa Residential School located at Toopran in the ourskirts
of the city.
Looking at teenagers and others asking everybody on the TV channels to go
and vote, it arouse our interest even. On the D-Day on 16th we went to
several Polling Booth in and around Toopran in city outskirts, informed
Master Susanth, an NRI Student of Class IX from the USA.
It was the much awaited day to garner the first- hand experience to
witness the polling booths and the voting. Chaperoned by our teachers,
several of us walked to nearby booths, where we noticed the long queue of
voters waiting hours to cast their votes, the heavy provision of security,
patrolling of police jeeps once in every 15 minutes etc. My friends
appreciated the kind of vigilance put in place by the Election Commission.
We have interacted with voters and to know their feelings about this most
important part of the democratic process. We even talked to the pollsters
present there for opinion polls to know about the leading parties.
Being an NRI student I had a lot of queries regarding the elections in
India, says Susanth. "I feel proud to be a citizen of the largest
democracy in the world and this experience will not only help me to
understand my books better but also make me alert regarding my fundamental
duties towards the country." The students were amazed and concerned to see
an old lady in her late seventies, running temperature, also finding it
difficult to move her limbs, was present there to exercise her right.
For my surprise, i found long queues, which ever the booth we went. People
were waiting to vote for long time. But, later i found in the evening that
the booth where we went fals in Medak had registered the highest voting
percentage, but, that again is just 70 per cent. What about the others.
Many other places in the state just about sixty in every hundred voters
went and vote. Why can’t we have compulsory voting, so that it would solve
the problem, asked Susanth innocently.
Later his teachers told him that there are many countries in the world
where voting is mandatory. But, in our country it is not so far. When a
law is enacted, then it would force people to go and vote, the explained.
The poll was completely peaceful except for a few cases of frustrated
voters, where the names and the voter registration numbers mismatched, as
marked by the students. Master Pranay and Master Aditya Vella of Class X
finding it important to intervene, extended their helping hands to the
agents in finding out the names of certain citizens from the voters list.
Recalling their experiences Pranay and Aditya were little disappointed as
they were not allowed to see how Electronic Voting Machines work. We had
to be content with peeping in the hall from outside. Also we were amazed
why political parties fight among themselves. Can’t they peacefully stand
in the fray. We children are frightened to see them fighting on Television
Channels, they said.
Students hailing from metropolis got rid of their misconception that only
the educated urban citizens come to vote, when they caught the sight of
rural folk thronging the booths to select their leader. But, unfortunatley,
when we watched TV in the eveining, the voting percentage in Hyderabad was
poor compared to the rural areas. Why don’t we urban people go to vote,
despite of the holiday declared for the purpose.
Students returned to school with much zeal and eagerness to exercise their
franchise when their turn comes when they turn.
Reachout's News Bureau
April' 2009
