Voting our Constitutional Right

Voting is a right given to a member of a group or the citizen of the country to express their opinions thus enabling collective and democratic decisions.Voting is one of the fundamental rights given to all Indian citizens who are above 18 yrs.Voting is a nation building process and as responsible citizens of this democratic nation it becomes our prime responsibility to participate in voting. As India is a developing country we need strong leadership at the top so as to bring the required rate of development, this is possible only when people exercise their constitutional rights and cast their votes. There can be many other factors that provide the ground for voting, but the most important of all is that it’s our right and in true democracy every votes counts.

It has been observed that on the day of voting there are some people who genuinely vote while others treat it as a paid holiday. Although there are many initiatives taken by the government, election commission and public agencies to improve the awareness, yet the percentage of people who cast their vote is not substantial.  As per election commission of India total turnout of votes in 2009 was 58.21%, 2014 was 66.7% while in 2019 it increased marginally and was 67.11%. After 71 years of Independence, can this figure be really adequate? Though we can see an improvement in voting turn out percentage however the situation in India is still not very promising andthis might be the basic problem of paralyzed growth of India.The fault lies with both the leaders and the people

So, what can be done to improve the situation as social security, economic growth and development of country lies in the hand of effective and able leaders. Situation will improve only when every Indian citizen, above the age of 18yrs exercise their rights of casting the vote and choosing a right government. Else, should India also have compulsory voting like Australia, Argentina, Beligum and many more?

Ms. Anu Bhardwaj

Assistant Professor

Department of Management Studies