As the world largest democracy goes to the polls, I am faced with my quadrennial quandry - to vote or not to?
Mumbai has now been delimited into 6 parts each of roughly 15-16 lac voters, making it a 90lac voting constituency. Bandra is the biggest with 16.90 lac voters ( I thought Andheri might be the biggest what with the 50 odd lac people staying there, but the mere 15.5 lac registered voter base makes it smaller, so too with Dadar , which alongiwith Chembur is smaller than Bandra) Why does so much of Bandra vote? Is it the literacy? Is it the slums around the airport and Dharavi? Is it just need to belong? Is it love for the city?
I think we need a Chief Minister of Mumbai, separate from Maharastra. The key task is to make this a world city in some timeframe with absolute focus on infrastructure, efficiency and law enforcement. Without the worry about famine, monsoons and infrastructure in the rest of the state - just like Delhi manages itself with a CM.
Does my vote count? Last elections saw Govinda winning Mumbai-north by just 20,000 votes. Some constituencies split 50:50. ( Florida is famous) So each vote does count.
Is the right guy standing? With a 40% turnout, 36lac people would have voted last time. If all were regular voters, the same guy and the same government would come to power.
Whats the electoral theme? Noone's got one this time around.( India shining bombed last time, so no theme is better than a mis-understood or mis-interpreted one) Reforms being irreversible, each successive govt can lay claim to it and improve it delta.
Will I vote? I must, but crossing the registration hurdle is key.
Clearly, Manmohanics has got us this far.
My virtual vote goes to him.
1 comment:
Our obsession with the movie 'stars' who were basically the guys in school/college who were the 'good for nothings' reflects our electoral failure. Unless that changes, which is probably not happening, we will be subjected to the people with bigger than life image passing off as the intellectuals, when they clearly are the opposite. So, Vote yes but with thought.
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