Why do you think that after decades of independence, our rise as a global nation remains sluggish? Why are we not able to fix many issues which plague our system, and which affect the largest sections of our society?
The answers perhaps lie with the political leadership of our country, which apparently, we the people only choose. Do our leaders try to represent the interests of the voters who bring them into power? If you look at the recent debates across influential media, the subject of inadequate voter turnout gains immediate attention. Why is it so that the voter turnout in Mumbai decreased to 43% despite voter registration initiatives like Jaago Re and transparency initiatives like Vote Report India in 2009?
The answers are simpler than the complex debates which surround the system. Perhaps it is our disbelief that such a complex problem can have such a simple solution, that we fail to recognize the same.
Those who are mandated with the task of managing the process of voting have stuck to the most cumbersome and ineffective form of voting, while the rest of the world has moved on. Look at the logistics the country has to mount to complete the voting process. Look at the effort that every voter has to make to travel to the voting booth, stand in long queues, getting his or her identity verified before one can vote. If voting is going to be a tall effort, it is only logical that a person for whom travelling long distances and standing in long queues is not part of the usual life would avoid the same. Unfortunately, for this nation, these people comprise of the more educated sections, which can think, analyse and take the correct decisions. The result is that the electoral choice of this nation excludes the voice of these educated, upwardly mobile masses. Instead of taking the moral high ground and insisting that the only way to vote for people is to come out, wither the weather, stand in queues, brace the mobs, and risk one’s life with the potential social unrest, those who are responsible for managing the voting process, need to look for a solution which serves the lifestyle of the educated masses.
It is hard to believe that in these times when most of us can conduct our banking transactions, pay our bills, book a train ticket etc sitting in the comfort of our houses, we are expected to go out and stand in a queue to vote.
Some years ago PRAHAR conducted a survey on Queues, and we learnt that queues become one of the top irritants for average citizens in availing citizen centric services. Voting is going to be no different.
If public and private sector enterprises can come up with solutions for solving our daily hassles like going to the bank, paying bills etc in an easy way, helping us deal with our MONEY via internet, then why can’t the Election Commission come up with a fool proof remedy for the problem of voting using the same infrastructure? When the NRIs can think of NRIONLINEVOTE to do something to choose the right leader for the country, why can’t we do the same?
Who is at fault? The Election Commission,
and the team leading it, who have failed to recognize the popularity of internet. With more than 45 million internet users in India, a voting solution involving the internet will have the same number of lesser people battling at the voting queues outside voting booths.
PRAHAR has a recommendation to make to the Election Commission:
Allow internet voting. However, since the biggest challenge here is to validate the identity of the voter, we recommend doing this through existing internet banking channels.
Current banks with internet banking facility like SBI, PNB, Central Bank, Canara Bank, ICICI, Axis Bank, HDFC etc put together serve a few million customers online. While casting a vote, the voter would need to authorize a token payment (say Rs. 500/-) to confirm his or her identity, just as it is done while buying a Indian Railways ticket. Once the vote is received by the EC and the identity of the sender is established, the payment can be refunded without any loss to the voter. Since a charge is attached, bogus votes will be ruled out.
The benefits of this approach would be as follows:
- It would make every internet literate person vote for their country and at the same time ensure that the informed and the educated sections of the society have the largest representation while choosing our leaders.
- It would leave the intelligentsia of the country with no excuse for not voting.
- The concept of deducting the token payment prior to voting and later refunding it would prevent the chances of any sort of tampering done with the votes.
- People will get a chance to make a government of their choice without any fall outs.
- The misuse of voting in the name of ignorance will also be checked as only the internet literate and the people with bank accounts will be able to vote via this medium.
- The decreasing no. of voters will be checked.
- Once such a thing is put into action, several solutions to our other imbroglios will follow automatically.
- We will have better leaders leading us ahead of times.
- Corruption would be checked.
- We will give ourselves a fair chance to grow and evolve and therefore, we will be able to make our footprint on the face of the world.
- Each and every individual of the nation will be given a fair and easy chance to shoulder their responsibility towards their country.
And, finally through this we will be able to see the dawn of a new age for our country, where our country won’t be languishing under the shadows of a “developing nation” tag, and won’t be witnessing the tardy rate of progress, crippled by the mismanagement of the national human and non-human resources by the caretakers of the country.