It’s 2019, Lok Sabha elections are round the corner and I am doubly excited as I will be voting for the first time.
As a first timer, I believe that voting is very important and underrated too. Being a voter is the most important participation in democracy. It’s also a matter of concern that the average vote percentage across the country is just 70-75%. Many young people do not vote just for the reason that they are not clued into politics, or that they don’t care.
Why My Vote Matters To Me
I believe that each vote has a count, value and power. My vote represents my aspirations for the representative from my constituency for the next five years. It is not important that all votes should go to the winning candidate. As per India’s electoral system, even a candidate who gets over 30-35% of votes in a constituency can be the winner despite the fact that (65-70%) of votes are not in his favour.
As an ardent follower of Indian politics, I have been observing it keenly for the past 6 years as a citizen and not as a political analyst. The main understanding I came through is that people vote on how they think the environment around them perceives situations. Also, people only vote if they see their vote as valuable. There are a lot of issues which remain undiscussed in India that prop up only when there is an election round the corner.
Take the issue of unemployment, which is very important for the youth, but has been addressed excessively only in the recent past. No one talked about it before. No one spoke of youth empowerment before the elections were declared. All this while the tickets given to relatively younger people to stand for elections from mainstream political parties is far lesser than expected.
I am also concerned about the fact that there have been multiple Model Code of Conduct violations from our political leaders in a small span of time. They are using religion, invoking names of gods, calling people to vote for a certain party just because of caste and also making personal attacks. I don’t endorse such a style of politics.
I believe that election campaigns and rallies should be focused on public issues, development, manifesto and review of the past work instead of self-promotion and hate speeches. This will help people analyse the work done by the government in the past and help them choose who can perform better or if the present government deserves a second chance.
Demonetisation, GST, social schemes, etc. have been the main highlight of the Modi government and it will be the primary issues around which people can be expected to vote. There are also issues like black money, terrorism, law and order, governance which will still be a deciding factor of everyone’s vote.
What Is Expected From The Next Government?
Irrespective of which party forms the government at the centre, my expectations are the same. The first and foremost will be the creation of jobs and employment. The second one will be strengthening India’s farming sector which includes interest-free loans, direct help from government agencies, subsidies for buying seeds and fertilizers, aid from the meteorological department and finally proper procurement of harvest and storage of food grains.
The third would be investing in primary education and healthcare. Improving basic infrastructure and reducing the retail cost and reduction in fees for economically backward sections.
Other issues that I would like the government to focus on is to build on good infrastructure in colleges, timely updating of syllabus and quality over quantity, building new roads, improving India’s present railway system and keep a check on the punctuality of trains and building new industrial corridors.
All this would happen only if budget allocation was prioritised. What I have mentioned here is more about urban areas, but I do ask the government to look into rural welfare so as to accommodate the majority of the Indian population as well. These include sanitation, access to government schemes, support for rural cottage industry, etc.
How Can My Constituency Be Improved Upon?
The situation here in Kerala is much better compared to other states. The urban-rural divide isn’t as great. Facilities like schools, hospitals, grocery stores are available in villages too. Rural areas are very well connected to urban spaces through public transport. Kerala is also open defecation free and has electricity.
My constituency specific demand would be to make Kochi a metropolitan city. The central government last time had included Kochi in the 100 Smart Cities list, but nothing seems to have changed other than naming the city in the scheme.
In 1967, the Cochin Corporation came into existence. Till now the area of the city remains the same while cities like Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad have doubled and tripled in size. The city of Kochi has already expanded beyond its traditional municipal boundaries to suburbs of Kakkanad, Thrikkakara, Thripunithura, Kalamassery and Aluva.
Kochi is ready to develop in the coming years. So, my first request is to expand Kochi’s municipal area by merging neighbouring areas and thus giving more authority to the municipal corporation. By this move, I believe that Kochi’s ability to sustain infrastructural development will increase.
Additionally, I would also request that the construction of the Kochi metro is sped up so that it reaches various points within the city and in the suburbs. Compared to Trivandrum, Kochi lacks heavily in traffic management and road networks.
I would urge all young people out there to cast your vote and take the Indian democracy forward. Vote wisely and think wisely. After elections, look into how your local MP/MLA is performing and question them on their work. Remember that the candidate comes before the party because they will be the one implementing development on the ground in your constituency.