Vote we must

It is election time when the faces we see regularly in the press and on television take to the road, when the slums across the city rejoi...

It is election time when the faces we see regularly in the press and on television take to the road, when the slums across the city rejoice in high spirits, when the air is filled not with the wails of the electorate but with the rash promises of their wanna be representatives and, most importantly, when for once the common man and woman seem to assume uncommon importance. It is the biggest show in the country getting ever bigger. It is the time when news offers more thrills per minute than the daily soap, when political pundits earn their day in the sun, and when most of us get a free holiday.

In the Capital, it is also occasion for exciting contests, more so this year than the last time round. BJP8217;s old warhorse Madan Lal Khurana versus the Congress8217;s unforgivably tainted-turned-squeaky clean Jagdish Tytler in Delhi Sadar, which returned the BJP in 1998 with 56.4 per cent of the vote cast, as opposed to 40.2 per cent for the Congress. Congress8217;s possible compromise prime ministerial candidate, economist and India8217;s best-known finance minister Manmohan Singh in contest with BJP8217;s Vijay Kumar Malhotra in South Delhi, which returned the BJP in 1998 with 58.2 per cent of the vote while the Congress managed only 37.7 per cent. Able administrator Jagmohan defends his New Delhi seat, this time against R. K. Dhawan of the Congress.

Discredited former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma takes on the ageing Deep Chand Sharma in the biggest parliamentary constituency in the country, Outer Delhi, which has over 30.5 lakh voters. And even in Karol Bagh, Delhi8217;s only reserved constituency and the only seat that the Congress is defending, that had returned Congress8217;s Meira Kumar with 48.79 per cent vote against 47.17 per cent in favour of the BJP, the BJP has fielded 36-year-old Anita Arya who hopes to wrest the constituency in the name of her prime minister.

To be sure, the competitive claims of righteousness on part of the candidates and bouts of self-congratulation on part of the Election Commission notwithstanding, in the city8217;s 1,100-odd slum clusters more than 20 lakh votes are still sought to be bought for liquor and money. Especially since the well-heeled and the supposedly responsible citizens treat the polling day as a welcome holiday, it is increasingly these slum votes that decide the fate of the candidates. Make no mistake. If it8217;s a shame on the democratic process, it is more so on people like us who consider it as just another matter of drawing-and-seminar-room debate. Come Sunday and all of us must give up our cynicism and our lethargy to go out and vote. It is the time to repose our faith in the democracy all over again. We are aware it is our right. It is time we started considering it our duty too. For, if only we take care of Delhi can India take care of itself.