Saturday, December 19, 2009

For all his flaws, Modi seems to do good too

The Gujarat assembly has passed a law that makes it mandatory for people to vote in local body polls. This MUST be extended to larger levels - state and general assemblies. This bill does add a fair share of work for government agencies - ensuring that all the eligible people in the constituency are listed in the voter's lists and maintaining up-to-date. And for the citizens, ensuring that their names are in the list corresponding to the constituency they reside in. Its generally accepted that India has been repeatedly plagued by low voter turnout, especially in the urban areas (though I need to show figures to prove this). 62% (in 2009 General Elections, as reported by The Hindu Business Line) is still too close to 50% for my comfort. I couldn't cast my (postal) vote 'coz my name was missing from the voter's list, though apparently it mysteriously re-appeared on the day of voting. Let's see how effective this move is.

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