Rule 49-O

Well, this is the continuation of my previous post. As some of you asked me in detail about the provision of not selecting any candidate in a constituency, i thought of making it more clear. The provision is called Rule 49-O of election commission of India. There is a correction regarding this rule. under this rule, one has the option of not voting for any candidate by obtaining a form and informing the polling officer about their decision of not voting for any body. In this case, your name will be registered and one needs to sign the form or thumb impression in case of illetrates. The biggest problem in this option is the confidentiality is missing. Also this option of not selecting any candidate is not available in the modern day electronic voting machines. Also,.. there wont be any repolling or scrapping of elections as claimed by me earlier. Even the candidates wont be debarred from contesting the elections. For more details regarding the rule 49-O, follow this link. http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/ndtv-show-special-story.aspx?page=10&ID=3&StoryID=NEWEN20090082098&.

The biggest Election of the world

Elections are round the corner. The ruling UPA is aiming for a second term, whereas the NDA is hoping to revive its fortunes. Instead of agendas and manifestos, elections in modern India are won on alliances and not on issues. The likely spending for conducting this 2009 general election is Rs. 10000 crores. This is higher than the election spending of the President of U.S. I have never cast my vote once and i came to know that nearly 90% of my friends have never voted leave alone voting once. What is the thing that prevents people from voting? one day holiday? or long queues? or worthless candidates? or lazyness? .But unfortunately, most of the people stay away from their home town and they cant cast their vote in another city. This is one of the biggest impediment for elections. Can voting be made mandatory? what if the government punishes those who do not vote? During elections, every person should go back to his/her home town to cast his/her vote. This may sound stange but it is not impossible. But the ones who should bring the change wont do such things. How many people know that there is an option to discard all the candidates in a constituency by not choosing any candidate . If a sufficient % of people opted for that, then elections for that constituency is scrapped and repolling would take place with new candidates. Imagine how many times the Election commission has to conduct polls if people come to know about the option and start using it. It will probably take more than a year to conduct polls and announce the results. And i also wonder about introducing an eligibility for contesting in elections and  retirement age for all these politicians. This wont happen ever as 99% of our politicians are above 65. The government is yet to pass the womens bill which is pending for years in the parliament ( if i am right).Changing the system is necessary, but system is in their hands. They wont let it change but we can make a difference if we exercise our right of voting. How many people know about the RTI act and its uses. RTI is such an efficient tool today. It is like blessing in disguise. Many people does not even know about the existence of such an act. We can obtain any information regarding all Govt offices and their spending or our own personal queries relating to a particular file. One can even request the concerned officers to disclose the spending of a minister while going abroad and implementatio of various projects...After all it is our money. well i am going to vote this time although not expecting a change . what is the harm in trying? well what about you????