And for a Friday, after the commencement of the Worlds largest electioneering process, some thoughts….. some musings…..
The CEC has announced Elections to vote in 543 Members to the Indian Parliament; an event whose scale, scope and statistics are mind boggling and almost a miracle. The entire process is so meticulously managed. The sheer size – 968 mn eligible voters and each voter must be able to cast his/her vote within walking distance from their homes. So more than 1.2 mn polling booths with each booth manned and equipped with EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) and some also with VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails), facilities for all candidates representatives to be seated, with the designated empowered Election duty staff, security personnel etc. etc. The Election commission mandates transfer of staff from every branch of the Govt for election duties. These include school and college teachers, engineers, clerks, accountants, administration support staff etc. etc. No Govt. employee can decline the election duty call mandate. Staff are appropriately monitored by Senior Personnel from the IAS, IPS and other central services. It’s a gigantic management exercise unparalleled in the world. But the process has been so perfected, even with the huge challenges of such a large country with massive geographical constrains plus a society so different by religion, region, caste, ethnicity, languages etc. etc. Yet the Process is performed to precision. A hamlet of even 50 voters, whether in the snowy Himalayan Leh region or the forests of Kanha in MP or the smallest islands of Lakshwadeep or Naxal infested Gadchorli, the election commission team with the EVMs will reach the polling booth within walking distance from the voter abode. Current elections are in 6 phases. Voting commencing from April 19th and results will be declared on 6th June.
The Indian polling system is first past the post system. The candidates with the maximum votes is declared winner. Inspite of lakhs of voters in every constituency, sometimes the margin of victory could be just a few votes. Hence every vote counts. It is the solemn duty of every Indian, every eligible voter to cast his/her vote on Polling day. Whom to Vote, how to decide, each voter must evolve own criteria. I have my own system. A multidimensional grid with weightage points for my Voting Constituency. 1) Competing candidates their SWOT. 2) Competing Parties. 3) My own declared objectives and priorities for Nation Building. So a five point grading for ten criteria under each heading, leading at multi dimension to a cumulative quantitative assessment which is reduced to 100 base for each candidate. And then the candidate with best score gets my vote. I have started preparing my criteria matrix for my vote on polling day in my constituency.
Let us all be mindful of our duty. Vote we must. May the best candidate win. Let us all vote the intelligent way, the analytical way, the SEEGOS way.