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An Urban voter !
- Is relatively better informed. This voter has higher expectations. He has been disappointed time and again by unqualified, incompetent and corrupt politicians.
- Today he believes that the rot in the system is so complete, it is irreversible.
- He also believes the system is cumbersome and unresponsive and voting is not worth the trouble. His vote is in minority and his vote cannot bring any change.
- Remember that the urban voter cares very deeply. But there should be a way to show him his vote can and will bring CHANGE. He must see that RELATIONSHIP.
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Major urban centers voted < 50% in 2009 LS elections ! |
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| City |
% of Votes |
City |
% of Votes |
| Srinagar |
25.55 |
Ahmedabad |
42.31 |
| Lucknow |
35.33 |
Bangalore South |
44.65 |
| Kanpur |
36.90 |
Bhopal |
45.04 |
Mumbai North
Central |
39.50 |
South Delhi |
47.41 |
| Mumbai South |
40.35 |
North West Delhi |
47.68 |
| Pune |
40.66 |
Jaipur |
48.26 |
| Gwalior |
41.11 |
Bhubaneswar |
49.14 |
Source: www.eci.gov.in
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Many will want to know WHY?
- Believe it is APATHY?
- Nothing could be further from the TRUTH.
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PPI’s Analysis
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- No faith that a new government will bring effective change
- Disillusioned with Politics and Politicians
- Name not appearing on voter’s list, cannot locate poll booth, voter ID card number useless, do not know where to go or who to ask.
- Traveling on work and out of town on election day
- Disgruntled with pre-voting requirements on the day of election
- Do not care
**Based on the current output from an ongoing sample survey
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Components of the Problem
- Existing candidates have no desire for good governance or no competence or no funds. No worthy candidate to vote for. No time bound practical promises like slum rehabilitation, infrastructure improvement, schooling etc.
- They feel their vote is precious and do not want to vote for a criminal or unqualified and undeserving candidate. In general they feel politics is dirty because current politicians have set a bad example.
- Mis-spelt names, ghost names, duplicate voter id cards.
- When a citizen can contest from any constituency within India why can’t a voter vote from any constituency.
- Cumbersome checking process of the voter list.
Ineffective use of Voter ID card number.
Serial number in the list varies in every election.
List not sorted out alphabetically.
List not available in English in most cases.
Supplementary list not available in all polling booths
- There is no mechanism for reward and penalty.
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Solutions
- Encourage professionals to participate in the political process and bring their training and competence to effect CHANGE
- Visible effort and continuous communication that CHANGE is possible will remove their cynicism.
- EC needs to completely overhaul their registration process and update records quickly till the UID comes into force.
- There is no reason why the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) cannot be linked (like the ATM) thereby allowing all legitimate voters to exercise their franchise in any part of the country.
- The bureaucracy must become friendlier, co-operative and honest. The enlistment process should be greatly simplified.
- Above steps will reduce the number of voters who “Don’t care” to a minimum.
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