Let down8217; by democracy, they didn8217;t vote

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6: It might be the lowest ever turnout in elections to the Lok Sabha from UT but going by intensity of disillusionment p...

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6: It might be the lowest ever turnout in elections to the Lok Sabha from UT but going by intensity of disillusionment pervading the mind of a general voter, a 48.5 per cent turnout, too, seems to be quot;quite a bitquot;. At least that8217;s what a cross section of people, who had a franchise but chose not to exercise it, feel.

As the elections have been reduced to a routine, most city residents were not interested in casting the vote this time. While some did care to do the same out of a feeling of civic duty, there were others who were firm on quot;not exercising their mandatequot;.

quot;There is no one worth being paid so much attention. The problem is that these politicians have got into a habit of taking us for granted. We are the voters of a democracy, but will anyone tell me what kind of a democracy is this? Where are those principles of social justice which they swore so hard to achieve?quot; said an angry Manpreet Singh who is studying at Aptech.

Narender Trehan, a housewife, adds: quot;You may feel every educated voter should have exercised the sacred8217; right to vote. But mind you, the question of this right being sacred arises when the polls are considered sacrosanct. When the sanctity is lost, how can the franchise be sacred?quot;

Radha Kishan, a labourer, also came down heavily upon all those who call themselves saviours of the nation. He said: quot;They are all made of the same stuff. There is no end to their humility when the polls are due. But the moment they are elected, everything is forgotten. I have been voting for the past about 40 years, but have seen no concrete action. So I decided to abstain this time.quot;

Where the rural voter is concerned about the ineffective public distribution system over the years, the urban voter is concerned about declining moral standard of the society. Says Manisha Arora, a dietitian in Sector 16 General Hospital: quot;Politics is a dirty game. That8217;s why it has caused this indifference. I have no regrets about wasting a vote because it would have been wasted in any case. Why even cast it and watch it fail. No politician is bothered about national interest. Even at the local level nothing much has improved. When polls are not serving their purpose why keep repeating them?quot;

Dalip Singh, working at Haryana Civil Secretariat says: quot;I even asked my wife not to vote. We are not here to be trampled over. If the leaders can take us for granted so can we. Let them not think that we are not watching. We know what they want. Except national welfare, they want everything.quot;

Story continues below this ad

Dalip8217;s wife, Kesar Devi also feels the same as she says: quot;We are not so great as to think of who will get a majority at the Centre. We want someone who can be with us when we face problems here at home. But that8217;s not happening. Essential commodities are getting dearer by the day. If they can8217;t control prices, what else can we expect them to do?quot;