Dismal turnouts in polls show leaders' callousness

It is time we gave a serious thought about the direction in which the country is moving politically. All parties and leaders who come to power swear by democracy and take a vow to strengthen it. But is that happening? The answer would be certainly not. The trends are disturbing whether it is in conduct of proceedings in legislatures or holding elections from Parliament to local bodies.

The just-concluded GHMC elections in Hyderabad is a classic example of how the government failed in making voters go to the polling booth. Many reasons are being given for the low voter turnout. The first and foremost is that people feared Covid-19. This argument does not stand any ground because if that were so, senior citizens would not have gone to vote in large numbers. Call it the biggest flaw or a well worked out strategy, the GHMC failed to go to many residential complexes and distribute voter slips. This either means that the names of people residing in these complexes were not there in the voters' list or the GHMC was not interested in their votes.

All political parties focussed attention on the lower middle-class voters and slum areas and the candidates hardly went to any complexes to seek votes. This was a unique pattern witnessed this time. Many voters did not even know who the candidates were from the main parties including the TRS and the BJP. All the high decibel campaign apparently was targeted only at the "assured" voters and apparently, this section kept their word by exercising their votes.

The government declared Tuesday as holiday but did not address the problems of the techies who have influence in about 30 seats if not more. Most of the IT companies did not give holiday and all those who were working from home could not go to cast their vote. Another major issue that needs to be investigated is how did the names of those who voted in 2019 assembly elections go missing from voters list? The State Election Commissioner is on record saying that they had followed the 2019 Assembly voters list. Then how did the names go missing? Some people including some senior government officers in high positions say that those who did not vote should not get benefits of government schemes.

This shows that even those who are in very senior positions in government are not apolitical. Secondly, they should understand that government schemes are for the poor and this section did go and vote. It was the educated middle class and upper middle class who kept away from polling and they are not eligible for government schemes.

Some argue that those who did not vote have no right to question the GHMC. What a way to escape from failures! In India voting is not compulsory. Moreover, anyone who pays tax has the right to question the GHMC. Why can't the politicians and officials understand this basic point? Maybe 'one nation one election' could be a solution to this low voting percentage.