Do you really care?

2009 is all about ‘BEING THE CHANGE’.

The elections have vested a part of the power to develop India, in young voters like us. Here is a chance to be the ‘CHANGE’. We(I), often crib about the red tapism, corruption, poverty etc… in INDIA. Today I ask myself, what have I done to make a difference to this society? In fact we all have to ask ourselves how have we contributed rather than crib!This elections there are so many campaigns to help the youth understand the importance to vote.

The JAAGO RE campaign by TATA, the LEAD INDIA MOVEMENT (a moving ad) by TIMES OF INDIA etc..These campaigns have stimulated an urge for every young voter to make a difference in the society and VOTE. But until recently I realized that not everybody knows how the political system works. The youth are unaware of the manner of the electoral process. They just vote depending on whom their friends are voting or on plain hear-say. It was a SHOCKING discovery after all the hype and talk about voting.This is exactly why I posted this entry to help all of you UNDERSTAND how the political system functions. Here is an earnest REQUEST for you to read and realize whom, and how you are empowering today’s leaders to run tomorrow’s future.

OUR FUTURE.
OUR SUCCEDING GENERATION’S FUTURE.
JAI HIND.

India has 2 important elections.
1.Assembly elections
2. Lok Sabha elections.(the current elections in progress)

2. Lok Sabha elections(SELECTION OF MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT(MP))

India has 543 constituencies. A constituency is where a common man is selected** to represent a party (e.g. BJP, CONGRESS etc...) for the elections. The constitution of India allocates the number of constituencies for each state. A constituency is selected according to the demography and land area. For e.g. Uttar Pradesh has the most number of constituencies owing to its population and land area.

** A common man is selected by the party president (e.g.. Sonia Gandhi for CONGRESS) along with the consultation of the party members. This selected candidate contests the elections on the name of the party.How is that particular person selected?A large percentage indicates that such a person is selected based on the entourage around him and the amount of power determines his fame.

For e.g. This person must have the power and the ability to hold strikes at college level, fight for higher wages at company levels and overall must be a GOON. As sad as it sounds, this is the ACTUAL CRITERIA for being selected by a party.
A very few INTELLIGENT AND INTELLECTUAL people actually get selected!

So far I spoke about how a person is selected by a party to contest for the post of MP on their behalf.There are a number of M.P’s standing as an independent person (i.e.) These common men do not support any select party but canvass individually and contest for the post of M.P for a particular constituency.(To a large extent, I believe that we young voters should select these MP’s because they are un-biased and clearly believe more in development rather than dirty politics. They select a party purely based on their work ethic. However, it’s not true in all cases.)

After voting for the MP’s the person with the most votes wins for the particular constituency.Once these 543 posts are filled, the party with a majority, (i.e.) most number of MP’s of the 543 members are allowed to form a GOVERNMENT.
NO individual party can commanded such majority to form a government in today’s ages.

Therefore, a concept called HORSE TRADING occurs wherein, a party trades with other small parties ,which have a minority number of M.P’s to form an ALLIANCE with them. In return, these parties give special posts to certain members of the smaller parties.Let me break this down so that it’s easier for you to understand...
The only 2 parties controlling power and which will eventually form a government in India are, BJP and The CONGRESS.The smaller parties that form an alliance with:

A. The CONGRESS, come under United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
B. The BJP, come under National Democratic Alliance.

Therefore,

CONGRESS+ALLIANCE = UPA.
BJP+ALLIANCE = NDA.

Now, a smaller party for e.g. The DMK can form an alliance with the CONGRESS or the BJP depending on who is willing to give the DMK important posts such as the railway minister, finance minister, commerce minister etc… Various smaller parties form alliances with the BJP or the CONGRESS and the party with the most number of MP’s i.e. (272 or more, out of 543) WINS.

Once the government is selected or rather elected (can be both!) the PRIME MINISTER is selected in consultation with the members of the alliance and the party members. Therefore, the prime minister can be a part of the main party OR a person from a party who formed an alliance AND were CRUCIAL to help them get the majority vote.To help you understand this better..

For e.g. CONGRESS gets 260 MP seats and DMK gives the remaining 12 seats to enable the CONGRESS to win the elections and form a government, the primeminister can be from a member of the DMK OR the CONGRESS, despite an alliance of JUST 12 SEATS!!.The central elections comprise of this whole process. Its about electing the MP’s, forming a government and selecting the prime minister.

Ever wondered why each party has a symbol? It‘s because when these parties started and even today there are a number of illiterate people who do not know how to read and associate the symbols. To enable them to understand whom they are voting for the symbols are mandatory according to the rules of the EC(Election commission)

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE PREVIOUS LOK SABHA ELECTIONS:

There are only 2 MP’s from the age of 20-30, and 157 Mp’s from the age of 61-70. In terms of educational qualifications A MEAGRE 3.9 %( 22) of the MP’s have doctoral degree and (250)44.6% of them are GRADUATES. These are the guys who are going to be dealing in millions of OUR money.

The representation of women (I think it’s including the NEVER TO BE SEEN PRATHIBA PATIL) stands at 8.2%, comparing to U.S’s 16.3% and U.K’s 19.3%. Maybe women are the key to our humongous problems. But then, the very thought of Jayalalitha or Mayawathi almost INSTANTLY CRUSHES the incongruous idea.Here’s something interesting..

The LOK SABHA is a place where the members debate and discuss on various issues of development and finance. NOTE : It’s not the place where you throw slippers and chairs as seen on NATIONAL TELEVISION(Even I was misguided. Can’t blame you ;-) )78 MP’S have not asked a single question and 167 have asked fewer than 10 questions!!Every lok sabha member is entitled to receive rs.2 crore annually, under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS).

MP’s can allocate the money for development needs of their constituencies. Data shows that only 6% of the MP’s have spent less than 80% of their fund AND…..AND…AND…ALL OF THEM ARE FROM BIHAR!!. Some failed to spend even 60%.
Nor I, nor you, nor anybody, INCLUDING GOD will understand WHY in the WORLD would some one not want to help the poor when he’s GETTING FREE MONEY FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

The very act of doing GOOD is considered UNHOLY in the world of politics!Hope you understood the whole process. I’ll be more than happy to hear from you, if any mistakes factually or if you have any doubts and areas where my explanation was not clear.

THANKYOU!
VOTE RESPONSIBLY OR JUST DONT VOTE