As has been the trend in previous elections, Bangalore Urban
recorded the worst voter turnout in this year’s Karnataka assemble elections.
And I have to admit that I contributed to the low turnout. Often, the urban
educated electorate has been accused of being callous and indifferent, capable
of only passing judgments but stopping short of doing anything about it. While
there is merit in that argument, I believe there is another factor governing
the lack of will to vote, the absence of a clear motivation to vote someone in
or out of power.
In the past, I have exercised my franchise on most occasions
since attaining adulthood. However, I chose to stay away this time around. And
that was because I really don’t know who to vote for. I’ve encountered similar
predicaments in the past as well but usually I was sufficiently clear on who I
don’t want to come in power. This time, in Karnataka, I didn’t even have the
luxury of choosing the lesser of the evils. At the national level, the Congress
has set new standards in misgovernance, and instead of addressing it, all they
seem to be capable of doing is achieving new lows in obnoxious sycophancy
towards the Gandhi family. The BJP seems to be treading the same path now, with
its Narendra Modi obsession. At the state level, I can’t find a single good
reason to vote the BJP back to power. Most would agree that Deve Gowda and
Kumaraswamy are not an alternative.
At the constituency level, it is all the more difficult to
make a decision because you are hardly ever aware of a candidate’s credentials.
A solution could probably be public debates, or something more practical would
be the promotion of a candidate’s achievements. Instead, what we get in terms
of canvassing is huge cut-outs of Gandhi, Modi or any other leader to whom the
candidate wants to pledge their allegiance.
So where does all this leave the voter. I personally decided
that instead of making a half-baked uninformed decision, I’d leave it to the
majority and hope that they have a clearer perspective than I have.
