Questions: 1. Speak about Cricket and Cinemas. Ex: Favorite Player/Actor, Number of games/ Movies. 2.

Number of political parties in India 1616 3. Number of National Parties 06 (INC, BJP, NCP, CPI, CPM, BSP) 4. Number of State Parties 02 (TDP, TRS) 5. Difference between LokSabha and RajyaSabha MPs, MLA, MLC 6. When did India experience elections? Ancient India, Mahajanapadas 7. When did India experience the first election on large scale? 1920 8. Difference between Independence and Republic. 9. From when did Democracy exist in the world and in India? Greece Gladiator as an example & 16 Kingdoms in India known as Mahajanapadas Magadha, Kosala, Anga, Avanti, Gandhara. Palm leaves were used to elect the Kings in Ancient Tamil Nadu. 10. Why is it important to have political education? Right to vote has presence even in Ancient World. Ancient Greeks elected their king through their voting right. Even in India, during the Ancient times, such kingdoms existed. There were sixteen kingdoms known as Mahajanapadas such as Magadha, Kosala, Anga, Avanti, Gandhara etc., where the local tribal kings were elected by the people. People in South India, mainly Tamil Nadu used Palm leave to elect their representatives. Medieval world experienced the rule of Monarchies and Autocratic leaders. As everyone say that the world follows a cyclic path, the Modern World is back to the Democracy which is much more refined, civilized and better than the Ancient Democracy . Most of the countries have adopted Democracy and a few are still moving towards Democracy. Democracy is seen as synonym for Civilization. When we speak about Democracy, we always remember two things one is the Definition of Democracy and the other perceiving USA as a role model in the Democracy. A famous Definition for Democracy was given by the great Abraham Lincoln. It is Government of the people, by the people and for the people. It means that the Government consists of the representatives who are elected by the people and work for the benefit and betterment of the people. The second one is sighting USA as a role model in Democracy. No doubt USA stands as a matured democratic country when compared with other countries. Let us analyze why USA stands a matured Democratic country. There are many reasons such as Internal Democracy within the parties, recognition of the value of Right to Vote. I dont want to comment over the first reason here and I want to confine myself to discuss more about the second point ie., value of Right to Vote. US earned independence on July 04, 1776. The first Presidential elections in USA were held in 1789 in which only the White Men were given Right to Vote. Other sections have shown their anger against such system where a few White Men are electing the representatives for the entire community. This resulted in many revolutions and even outbreak of Civil War. The outcome was the voting right to every individual irrespective to color and gender by the end of 1920.

If we look at the history of the another country from which we have adopted our constitution ie., Britain, the story is not different. Women have raised their concern for voting in 1872 and their demand to vote was fulfilled by 1928 . Take the history of any country like France, Germany, Austria etc., there were many revolutions for the Right to Vote. Now let us look at the history of India. In British India, only elite were eligible for electing the representatives. The freedom fighters always opposed such practice. Hence, India on the attainment of Independence declared that it will practice Universal Adult Franchise. Many historians, critics, experts opinioned that such practice will be failure and will result in the balkanization of the country. But on the onset of the First General Elections held in 1951, India became the first country to give Right to Vote to every citizen who attained 21 years (now 18 years) irrespective of caste, creed, color, gender, race etc., without any major revolution. As said earlier, in the rest of the world many protests and revolutions took place for attaining a treasure called Right to Vote. But in India, our fore fathers have foreseen such movements for Right to Vote. So they have gifted Right to Vote to the Indians. Since 1950, India has experienced 15 General Elections and is going to experience the 16th one within few days. India has seen hundreds of elections conducted to State Legislative Assemblies and Municipal Corporations and Panchayats. If we carefully examine all these elections, we can come to a conclusion that the Voter turnout is very less in all the elections irrespective of the category to which they belong. Before we proceed further let us analyze why the Voter Turnout is less. There are varieties of reasons which are influenced by Socio-Economic and Politico-Cultural factors. Election Commission has conducted a survey known as Knowledge Attitude Behavior and Pattern of Voter (KABP Survery) to find out the reasons for low Voter Turnout. According to a Mumbai based survey there are six main reasons for the low voter turnout. They are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Clumsy and time taking Registration process. Names missing in the voter list. Lack of proper distribution of Voter Slips by the Government. Lack of time Laziness Lack of trust over the Government and political system.

There is a need to find out solutions in order to increase the Voter turnout which addresses the above said reasons. Many agree that the Voter Registration process is not user friendly. Filling of application form is a user friendly job but later process such as following up with the authorities to ensure that the Voter Registration is successful is a clumsy process. But recently Election Commission has come up with innovative steps to address the issue. Another major reason is missing of names in the Voter List. We observe in every election that some of the names of the eligible voters are either Deleted or Missing. As the Election Commission releases the Voter list just before the Election process, it is almost impossible to the individuals to add their names in the list if their name is missing. In order to address the above said issues, Election Commission should take up the Voter Registration process as a throughout Year program instead of one week drive or one day program.

The Government and local authorities have failed miserably to distribute the Voter slips to the eligible voters. In the recent Municipal polls held in Andhra Pradesh, the local authorities failed to distribute the voter slips to nearly 30% of the population. Inorder to address this issue, the local authorities should start distributing the slips much earlier to the elections. And through a press release they should ask the individuals who didnt receive the voter list to collect from the local kiosk centers. Moving further, we can combine both the Lack of Time and Laziness into a single phenomenon known as Modern Human Tendency. Modern Human by nature is occupied with various tasks and this leaves no free time to the individual to stand in the long queue to exercise the Right to Vote. Hence the solution to this issue can be two fold. Firstly, the Election Commission should take up the task of properly educating the voter the value of the Vote through the advertisement and seminars. Secondly, the Election Commission should increase the number of polling booths so that the waiting time in the queue will decrease. These two measures can help to tackle the problem of Modern Human Tendency Before we analyze the last issue it will be appropriate to discuss about the expert opinion about the low Voter turnout. Many studies reveal that the Indians are very casual about utilizing their Right to Vote and they dont know the value of Right to Vote. We have a myth that the illiterates and lower class need to be educated to have a high voter percentage. But the hard reality according to the experts is that mainly Middle class and educated Indians are absconding from voting process. The voting percentage is high among the lower class and illiterates due to notorious reasons. Hence many believe that there is a need to educate the Educated Middle Class about the Right to Vote. Experts feel that there are many reasons for the reluctance of the Educated Middle class to participate in the Voting process such as 1. As the Indian freedom fighters have gifted us the Universal Adult Franchise, the Indians dont know the value of the vote, 2. there is need to add the Duty to Vote under Fundamental Duties so as to increase the voter turnout in the elections, 3. Voting percentage will increase only if Compulsory Voting is introduced etc., I strongly oppose the last reason. Statistics across the world shows that Voter Turnout doesnt depend on whether it is made compulsory or not. In countries like Austria, Iceland, New Zealand, etc., the voter turnout is nearly 90% though voting is not mandatory. Countries like Brazil and Australia have a turnout of nearly 80% though Voting is mandatory. So we can safely assume that the Compulsory Voting will not impact the Voter Turnout. Before I analyze the Second Reason, I would like to take up the first reason. I fully agree with the statement given by the experts in this regard. Many Indians dont know the value of vote. The simple logic behind that is hard earned rupee is more valuable than a hundred gifted. Every human gives value to a particular thing only if it is achieved after great struggle. Therefore I came to the conclusion that as the Right to Vote is gifted to us by our fore fathers without much struggle from the people, it is not properly utilized. Analyzing the Second reason, Im the strong proposer to add a Fundamental Duty of Duty to Vote under the Part IV-A. I recommend such amendment to the Constitution because when there is a Right, there should be an equivalent duty over the citizen in order to secure

that Right. So I propose that if a citizen doesnt exercise Right to Vote then there should be provision in the constitution to impose sanctions over the individual. Those sanctions may be divided into several stages. Sanctions for repetitive non-voting behavior should be compounded and should be severe. In first stage, the Election Commission may release a press note with the names and addresses of the eligible voters who have not participated in elections. The severity of the sanctions may increase for repetitive non-voting behavior by withdrawal of subsidies such as LPG, Kerosene, and essential commodities etc., In the middle stages, the Right to Vote of the individual may be suspended for few years. If the individual is still reluctant to vote then severe sanctions such as derecognizing the individual as the Citizen of India should be adopted. Now going back to the issues raised by the Mumbai based organization, the sixth reason as said by the organization is the Lack of trust over the political system. It can be observed that over the period of time, people have lost trust in the political system and it is one of the main reasons for low voter turnout in the elections. There is a need for us to analyze why people have lost faith in the political system. It is mainly because the Elected Representatives are never in the reach to the Electorate. And that too many political parties field the candidates with criminal background who have winning capability. The winning capability is decided by the muscle and money powers the candidates. This forced the voter to choose the lesser evil. (Speak about Criminalization of Politics and money power. How did they come?) --------------------------------------------***------------------------------------------------Why Should We Vote: Three Systems: 1. Social System 2. Economy 3. Political System (Explain it) Voting in India is a Constitutional right if one is a citizen over 18 years of age. However, that also makes it optional (we dont have any law which makes voting compulsory by citizen). It has been a tendency among voters, especially in the urban areas, youth..etc., to treat the voting day as a day of rest and day of holiday. While skipping the vote may not seem to cause any harm, the long-term consequences are disastrous.(Quote the examples of bad governance under various governments Like corruption ,anti -people laws) Here's why every citizen of India must cast his or her vote: Agent of change: Voting is the agent of change. If the people of India think that the ruling government is not performing its duties satisfactorily, they can show it the door by voting against it. Refraining from doing so can result in the same party, or a worse one, being elected for the next five years. Every vote counts:

In a country so populous, a voter might feel that a single vote does not make any difference. However, the balance tilts when this becomes a national attitude and lakhs perhaps croresof votes are not cast. By casting their vote, citizens may not necessarily be able to get the best candidate elected politics being what it isbut by avoiding casting their vote they improve the chances of the unsuitable ones winning the polls. At the end, it is only the voter who has to suffer through poor governance. Get heard: Voting offers every citizen a medium of expression. In a country as vast and diverse as ours, different regions have different concerns and priorities. The process of voting allows every citizen to have a say in what should constitute the matters of importance by voting for the candidate he or she deems fit for the purpose. While it is true that the outcome of elections is seldom predictable, by not casting one's vote, that citizen is giving up on the chance of getting heard. Voting as a responsibility: Voting is as much a responsibility as it is a right. The whole edifice of Indian democracy is built on the foundation of voting. If citizens are not careful about casting their vote or worse, skip their vote altogetherit will jeopardize the existence of our democratic Republic. By not voting, you are sacrificing your sacred right Voting is a sacred right of every individual and exercising his/her voting rights is the duty of the citizens of India. If you do not vote, you do not have any moral right to criticise the elected corporators or any other political leaders. If citizens do not vote, they are unnecessarily sacrificing their sacred right. The youth must especially understand how important and prized their vote is, which will help shape the future of the country. Voting as an honor: Finally, voting is an honor conferred on the citizens by the founding fathers. By exercising their right to vote, citizens demonstrate their respect for the history of the country. It can't be denied that the recent democratic experience in India has not been encouraging. For the past several years, India has been struggling with rampant corruption, unsure economy, and unclear foreign policy. Election after election has seen ineffective governments come to power that have done more harm than good. However, not casting one's vote will only worsen the condition. It is our duty as responsible citizens of India to make informed decisions and choose the best candidate from those presented. At a point in time where corruption is rampant within our government, and the most of the youth of India are more apathetic towards voting, we understand the importance of educating the youth, our future leaders, to rise above and demand the accountability we deserve. In order to do this however, one must first stimulate the youth's political awareness there by empowering them to bring about the necessary change. Moreover, with reforms like Right to reject gaining wider support, it wouldn't be long before the system of elections is improved. (Can discuss the electoral reforms (recall, referendum, policy initiation by citizens itself) which may be useful to our democratic process)

While we are in the process of electing 16 th Loksabha at the center and state assembly in the newly born state we need to be at most careful to caste our vote and making sure that we voted for a leader who works for the development of society and people there by state and country as whole. Three segments 1. Political System 2. Bureaucracy 3. Civil Society. --------------------------------------------***------------------------------------------------In the past the voter wasnt able to reject all the candidates who are in the fray. Hence the voter preferred to stay back at home instead of choosing the lesser evil. But things have changed now. With the intervention of Supreme Court, the voter is empowered with NOTA vote. By exercising the NOTA vote the voter can send a message to the Constitutional Body that all the candidates who are in the fray are ineligible to be their representative. Participate in the election process. Vote for a candidate who works for the society, who distances oneself from "Vote Bank Politics", who can sacrifice his seat for the welfare of people, who fights against injustice, who is available to you when needed, who can give assurance for your secured and prosperous life with in a prosperous country. If you are unable to find such person don't stay back at your home. Supreme Court has empowered us with NOTA Vote. NOTA mean None Of The Above. NOTA may not be Vajrayuda but it is a Sword. Through NOTA you can pressurize the political parties to field a right candidate who deserves to be your representative. If you use your right in a proper way then NOTA may be a "Bramhastra" to destroy the Asuras. Therefore my sincere appeal to you is to "Vote for Refinement". "Vote for your betterment". "Vote for a secular candidate". "Vote to reject the candidates who dont deserve to be your fate decider". "Vote to make India a developed country".