With the Lok Sabha elections only a couple of months away, the social media and news channels are abuzz with new political updates by the second. The recent Election Commission data reveals that from around 81.5 crore eligible voters this year, those between the ages 18 and 23 are estimated to be 4.87 crore.
Owing to contemporary channels like Facebook and Twitter, the coming elections seem to be more widely discussed than most other elections before, with the newly evoked youth involvement in the political debate. However, when it comes to casting your vote and making it count, there needs to be an involvement beyond the social arena. While these are excellent platforms, their role in shaping the public opinions sharply cannot be denied. One needs to look beyond the conventional Modi-Rahul debate and the coming elections need to perceived as something much more than two blocs pitted against one another.
Voting for your favourite party would still not benefit you in the long run, unless your immediate representatives are efficient and sound. While it isn’t all that problematic to associate oneself with a party or an ideology, it is also requisite that we exercise our responsibility as voters and keep a watch for all the eligible candidates from our constituency, regardless of their political affiliation.
As the parties unveil the names of their candidates, here’s what you can keep a track of as a responsible voter, and how:
If you wish to know how active your MPs have been in the parliament, here’s an easy answer to that. PRS India’s MP tracker gives you all the information about your MP’s activity in the 15th Lok Sabha. You can know your MP’s attendance to the kind of questions asked in the Parliament, if any.Â
This is where you find the criminal record against the sitting MPs, their assets and liabilities.Â