I VOTED!!!!!

My first experience in exercising my right to vote!!! Oh!! The initial excitement of just the idea of voting was superb. I was counting days, asking my elders about the voting process, basically doing everything I thought “I was supposed to do and know”.

And ultimately the day came!! I woke up at 5:30 with full excitement that I will vote. Though the voting process starts at 7 a.m, I was there in the booth by 6:15 a.m. As I was standing in queue for my turn to come, I realised that I did not even know who were the candidates standing for my constituency. Until then I hadn’t realised that I never gave it a thought. I was quite happy with the idea of voting and with minimal knowledge that a candidate from my locality was standing in the state elections. When I saw the names of the other candidates, I was quite disheartened. Not only because I did not know the to- be- MLA’s of my constituency but also at my ignorance.

After casting my vote (but to the obvious), when I returned home, I started thinking. This mustn’t be an individual case of ignorance but a widespread phenomenon. But who is to be blamed for this. Is it us the voters, the citizens who do not take interest in our political upswings or is it the political parties who control the whole system. In an instant we would immediately blame the latter for not doing enough, for corruption and many more misdeeds. Yes, it is right to say that they are to be blamed. As MLA’s and MP’s these people never visit our homes or localities to see the actual plight of the people and for this reason we, in turn, do not know them. At the most we hear about them time and again in the news papers and if we get very “lucky” than we see them in some function. But as responsible citizens do we do anything at all? We too don’t take any interest in what happens around us as long as it doesn’t affect us.

So, at the end, who is to be blamed? In all honesty both parties are to be blamed for all these things. After actually casting my vote today I realised that I should have known who the other candidates are. And on their part, they should have made an effort to come over and let us know that they are contesting and not just send there workers.

I just hope that my this realisation lasts till the next elections and I do keep a track of atleast the contesting candidates if not of anything else.