How important is it to vote?

 India is the largest democracy in the world. It is one of the top countries in terms of growth in significant aspects: economy, medical science, technology, etc. With 28 states and eight union territories, India is a vast country, and a solid and stable government is required to manage a country of this stature. In the largest democracy, there will be an enormous number of people involved in it who are voters of this country, yet the voting turnout in our country in any election is meager. So, a question arises ‘How important is voting in our country?’

India is a country of a large expanse, which calls for a massive election drive to be conducted. A significant problem with us for a long time is ‘low voter turnout, which thereby impacts the outcome of an election. Even though the numbers have considerably increased since 1951, which recorded only 45% votes in the Lok Sabha elections to 67.1% in the 2019 elections, there is a difference of 22.1%, which, when taken into consideration concerning our population, is still a considerable margin to be covered.

There have been quite a few optimistic changes in the past that have caused voter turnout to spike. Awareness about the elections among the masses, urging people to get a voter ID card, and mass political rallies asking for votes, to name a few. Here again, this increase is due to literacy among people about the elections.

We should understand that choosing the right candidate is our job to see the changes we want and not whine later after the results are out. This hatred created against politicians has made a lot of us disrespectful against our system. We should never forget that it is our moral right to respect our constitution and hence respect the post held by the individual, irrespective of the person who holds it. There always is a tendency to abuse than constructive criticism against a particular decision. It’s as simple as saying, ‘If we don’t respect our constitution, then no one will.’ 

Whether the candidate contesting the election is from whichever party, we cannot go all out against him just because he belongs to that XYZ party or the candidate of your choice was not elected. Instead of supporting anyone blindly, if there is a clear division between right and wrong and if the potential candidate is judged by his work and not the party, a considerable amount of change will be observed in Indian Politics.

These account for the main reasons people do not vote, labelling the country as “hopeless,” “unworthy,” and so on. But if they had voted, there would’ve been a possibility of the result going the other way. Every vote has a massive impact on the outcome, and hence it is crucial to cast our vote. Even if we don’t want to cast it to any of the contesting candidates, we can always choose the NOTA (None of the Above) option, which makes it a potent tool as the vote goes to no one hence the competency of the candidates is decided by us.

Being the citizens of India, it is our rightful duty to cast our vote as it is us who decide the future of our country, and all want to see the good of it. We have the potential to be the best in this world, and as the voting percentages rise every year, that day won’t be far away when there will be maximum voting in our country.

The Indian political arena has a lot of scope for improvement, and with today’s youth being more vocal about their wants and needs, a change is imminent and will make our country even better. Not today, not tomorrow but in the next 50 years. Today’s youth is our future, and our actions today will decide what’s coming next and hence create a long chain of events that may lead to the desired outcome where our country can be made as to what we want it to be. It all starts with us. “Be the change you want to see in the World.”-Mahatma Gandhi.