Two-third of the country’s population is under the age of 35. Given that the youth vote could prove to be a game changer in the ongoing elections, it’s quite disheartening to see that several youngsters missed out on casting their votes this year. While many could not find their names in the voters’ list, there are others who stay in different cities and could not make it to their home to cast their vote. Orissa POST interacts with a few youngsters, who failed to exercise their franchise this year.
Biswajeet Basantray, who works in an IT company in Pune, could not come to Cuttack to cast his vote. “Today people are aware of their rights and they understand the importance of voting. However, it is always difficult for people like us who stay far away from their home. Although offices grant a day’s leave to their employees to cast their vote, it isn’t always feasible to travel from one part of the country to the other,” says Biswajeet.
Higher education and better career prospects compel several youth to migrate to other cities. Naturally, it isn’t always feasible to travel hundreds of kilometres with a single day’s leave to ink their fingers. “India does have a postal ballot system but it’s restricted to certain categories of people. It’s meant for the people who work in armed forces or those who are assigned election duty like polling and presiding officers. If the facility is made available to people like us, the voting percentage will go up,” adds Biswajeet.
However, there are also many, who despite staying in their constituency don’t vote. It goes without saying that by abstaining from voting, they are not acting as responsible citizens.
“There are many who just don’t vote. It’s every eligible voter’s responsibility to take part in the election process. The government should penalise those who don’t cast their votes and reward those who travel miles to exercise their constitutional right. This will definitely witness growth in percentage of voters. The queues in front of polling stations have more elders than youngsters,” says Satya Narayan Das of Berhampur.
“The voting procedure has changed a lot over the years with EVMs replacing paper ballots. However, we should make more use of technology to increase the voting percentage. There should be a system in place where people who can’t make it to polling booths can cast votes digitally. Much like in banks where everything today is digitised for hassle-free and smooth operation, the Election Commission too needs to come up with a system where not a single eligible voter is left out of the poll process,” says Amrit Mohanty form Cuttack.
However, digitising the entire voting process is an intricate and time-consuming procedure and only time will tell if such a move will ever be initiated. Many, on the other hand, feel that every eligible citizen’s name should be in the voters’ list. “The voters’ list is often found incomplete and there are many who lose interest if they find their names missing from the list,” adds Amrit.
Hemanta Roul from Nayagarh says that many youngsters have lost interest in the voting process as they are not always impressed by the choice of candidates. “There are instances of candidates having criminal backgrounds or with very low education getting tickets to contest elections. Many find the entire voting process demotivating because of this. However, despite that, one should always exercise his voting right because every vote matters.”
SOYONG, OP
