India has adopted a system of representative parliamentary democracy by choice. The three words-representative, parliamentary and democracy should be cardinal features of our political system. Under our constitution and its provision of universal adult franchise, the people exercise their sovereign power while casting their votes to elect representatives.
But unfortunately, contrary to the visions of the Constituent Assembly, the entire election procedure has become a farce. Politics today has taken such an ugly turn that moral values and ethical standards seem to have been forgotten. Politicians seem to be more busy in hurling abuses at each other than working sincerely for the betterment of the society and the nation. Acts of violence are resorted to in place of mutual discussions and dialogues. In the pre-election period, the politicians wear the garb of sincerity, devotion and honesty. But as soon as they get elected, they take no time in disowning these values and election manifestos are conveniently forgotten once elections are over. In their eagerness to grab power, the politicians do not even hesitate in joining hands with the opponents or aligning themselves with the parties which are ideologically different from their own.
Although in the past, efforts have been made to make Election Commission stronger, independent and powerful in order to make the election process more accountable and transparent, still these fall much shore to the goal. For instance, not much has been done in the direction of curbing money and muscle power in elections. It has been observed that the candidates in order to outclass the opponents often spend money many times more than the ceiling limit provided by the Election Commission. Booth capturing, intimidating voters not to vote, tearing of ballot papers and theft of ballot boxes have invariably been happening in every election and though these actions shave been strongly criticized by all the political parties, very little has been done to stop from occurring again and again in every election.
Being the citizens of a democratic country, it is our right to elect candidates and to cast our precious votes in the most conscious, judicious and matured manner. It is the duty and responsibility of every adult citizen of this country to exercise this vote so that only those candidates who can work for the development of the country and for the welfare of the citizens get elected. After all the ultimate objective of every conscientious political worker should be to work for the betterment of the common people and to create an atmosphere of harmony and understanding all around.
