Youth and their Voting“mania”…!!!

‘There’s no point voting…’, ‘Nothing will change…’, ‘You can’t always blame the Govt.…’, ‘We’re the ones who’ll bring the change…’

These phrases are familiar among the youth of our country. The youth which are an imperative asset for a nation’s future hold different opinions on the political system of this nation. They are the decision makers of tomorrow and thereby cutting all the barriers they should vote. But the system is such that it is demoralizing to even bond with the ‘distorted’ Indian political system with corruption at its roots.

Underlining the need for changing the image of the "ugly Indian politician", senior BJP leader L. K. Advani recently said that one way of making this possible was by encouraging more young people to join politics. “Seventy percent population of our nation is youth and I have aim for the Indian youth that they should be given chance to come in politics”, was said by Rahul Gandhi while addressing the youth of our country before the 2008 elections.

Instead of these motivating avowals the youth today does not realize the power of its mandate. Having said that, yes, to an extent, political parties might have failed to touch a chord with them at large, but the youth should also be proactive and raise the issues that are important to them. If they come together and put forward their demands or issues, will the parties have the courage to ignore their voice? Rahul Gandhi’s talent hunt and meeting the youth in all parts of the country is an effort to make them a part of change. Tata Tea’s, ‘Jaago Re! One Billion Votes’ is a non-partisan nationwide movement that aims to awaken and enable the citizens of India, especially the youth, to register to vote.

Rather than feeling helpless, defeated and let down by our in-competitive politicians who are doing nothing to protect the civilians and brave security personals against terrorist attacks and bomb blasts the youth should involve with the Indian political system. Instead of being discouraged by the candidates they should use their power of ignoring the candidates provided by the Indian constitution in 1961. The voters should rather opt for “no vote”. According to the clause 49 O of Indian Constituency, you can simply visit the polling booth and ask the election officer that you don’t want to give vote to any candidate. In that case he will give you one form, which you will have to fill up and submit to the Presiding Officer. If the total number of these types of forms will increase the number of votes which cast in the favor of the winning candidate, then the election of that constituency will automatically be canceled. Hence, your vote will not become a waste.

Undoubtedly, voting for individual candidates with charisma like Clinton, Obama, or Palin is so much more inspiring than voting for parties. In India, we are denied the opportunity to vote for our mayors, our chief ministers, our governors or our prime ministers. The assertion that corrupt candidates turn us off has made voting something of a convenient copout. Perhaps, we do not have good enough candidates because there are not enough good voters who care enough to cast their votes. Clearly, our change is not going to be led by individual messiahs. But do we believe that one billion voices are powerless? Let's not get trapped into a nirvana fallacy, waiting for perfect conditions before we are willing to play our rightful role in India's political journey.

Turning 18 can become a milestone not just because it allows you a driver's license, but also because it allows you the license to vote. Will the youth lead our one billion voices out of political indifference? This could be the small step towards citizenship and a giant leap for our democracy. Thus the individuals should look beyond themselves and empower others. But to empower others we must be empowered ourselves. And this can set up by a simple act of voting.