By: Mohammad Taukir Rahmani
MMERC, Mumbai
Right now, it’s election time. People are enduring long journeys just to cast their votes, facing all the difficulties just for the sake of voting. Many have postponed their plans solely for this purpose. Almost every citizen of the country is striving to vote. Their aim is simply to brighten their own and their children’s future, to make India a developed nation, to alleviate inflation, to ensure justice for farmers and every citizen, to make education affordable so that every household is enlightened, and every individual in our country is educated. They want everyone to have their rights, to foster an environment of brotherhood and love, to establish justice and equality, to uphold the principles of the Indian Constitution, to ensure that the blood of our ancestors doesn’t go in vain for India’s freedom, to see our society flourish with peace and harmony, to maintain the democracy of the country intact, and to prevent tyranny from taking root. They want unemployment to end. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and all other communities want to live together like brothers. But the question still lingers: Is this a Free & Fair election, or is there some scam happening under the guise of voting?
Before the results of the Lok Sabah elections scheduled for June 4 are announced, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already won a seat in Gujarat, rejecting unsigned nomination form of Congress candidate allegedly no proper reason.
There has been taken no action against the hateful speech during the election rally in Rajasthan, and there is no mention of it in the media. If it had been a leader from the opposition party, they would have been behind bars.
Opposition parties across the country have been demanding that elections should be conducted using ballot papers instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). But, is the Ballot paper only solution for a Free & Fair election? No, the reality is that these parties are looking for some excuse to hide their failures. They should learn from the ruling party how to win votes from the people.
The point to ponder is that perhaps most political parties are somehow involved in corruption. So, do we dig our own graves by choosing these corrupt parties, or should we not vote at all? The straightforward answer is that none of the parties before us are completely corruption-free, so it is compulsory to choose better one comparatively. This is our basic responsibility, which we must fulfill in any case. The Election Commission has already been pressured, but we should also support the Election Commission by putting more extra pressure on him for Free & Fair elections, and political parties should not be afraid to stand firm without succumbing to any threats.
