Why I vote?

The polls for the Delhi Assembly last Saturday saw a voter turnout of 60% While there were of course enough pessimists and Doubting Thomases to declare that these figures were by no means impressive, they conveniently forgot or were perhaps blissfully unaware of the fact that this represented a sharp 6% rise increase over the turnout in the 2003 assembly polls and a mind boggling 17% increase over the voter turnout in the 2007 Municipal Corporation elections. Even more significantly it represented one of the highest turnouts EVER for elections in Delhi, the only other time when more than 60% voters exercised their franchise was in 1993. And yet so much more needs to be done

Delhi 'terrorised' into voting screamed some headlines.No such thing.......angered certainly, terrorised certainly not. The barbaric terror attacks in Mumbai certainly played an important role in getting Delhites to the polls, to exercise their franchise, something which which is not just a right but also a duty. The terror attacks in Mumbai, the eleventh major terror attack on Indian soil in the year 2008 alone, led to an unparalleled outpouring of grief,anger and outrage not just against the perpetrators of these dastardly deeds, but also against the government which had failed to protect its citizens time and again. We gave vent to our grief online, in print, amongst friends and colleagues and we came together as Indians.And yet many of us neglected to cast our vote and hence failed to utilise one of the most important platforms to make our anger and outrage heard.

A democracy is a government of the people, by the people,for the people.........but the people need to be involved! A.D. Benoist famously said. "The highest measure of democracy is neither the 'extent of freedom' nor the 'extent of equality', but rather the highest measure of participation." But how can we claim to participate if we don't even exercise our franchise, a privilege given to us precisely because we are citizens of one of the world's greatest democracies rather than inhabitants of some banana republic being run by a tinpot dictator. Sure I could have gone down the "What's the point all politicians are the same" route.Instead, I made a pledge, I made a pledge that if a government which has failed it's people repeatedly comes back to power by the margin of a single vote let that vote not be mine.Or if an independent candidate who will do much more for my constituency than any of the political parties loses by a solitary vote,let that vote not be mine. I will raise my voice in protest, I shall write,I shall blog, I shall march with my Indian brethren to mourn the dead and salute the heroes who died to keep me and mine safe, I shall light a candle, I shall also vote.

I voted in the Delhi Assembly elections because I know if the many "me's" had stayed at home thinking "what can one solitary vote do" we would not have seen 60% of Delhi's electorate turn out to tell their representatives exactly what the thought of them. Let the 60% in 2008 be 70-80-90 even 100% when the entire nation goes to polls in 2009. Be sure to vote in the General Elections people........its your best chance to show politicians the finger........and make it count!!