Dear Readers,first the disclaimer; by the time you read this article, the finale of the democratic dance drama in progress for almost the last two years would have been staged, and the exuberance,anger, dismay of the win and loss, whichever is applicable, would have settled and blame game would have started, so all this may seem too mundane but nevertheless, here it is.
The mega national event of the year: The Great Indian Election, reached Gurgaon on the 25th of May, and responsible citizens braved blistering heat to visit the polling booths and finally cast their precious vote.They came out to exercise the power vested by the constitution, in their never so powerful finger. Though the turnout was much lower than 2018,owing to the heat, voter apathy/fatigue but the ones who did venture out were determined to brave it all to express their mandate.Saw quite a few residents reach the wrong school and then figure their way to the right one.
The polling booth for Sushant Lok A block residents was in the Primary Govt. School near MG Road metro station. Though there wasn’t so much of a rush inside, the scene outside was pretty chaotic.The other polling booth was at The Sriram School, which also had long queues in the earlier half, but by the afternoon, it was a walk- through. While for most families, all the members had the same polling stations, there were rare cases, especially for people who have moved their residence, where the family had to move across different centers, to cast their votes.
Thanks to the EVM (however vile it is termed by the opposition), absence of the bulky ballot paper was quite a welcome. Additionally over the years, absence of posters, leaflets, roads strewn with leaflets thrown by various contestants/parties are a visible positive impact of social media, on the electoral process.
The Sushant Lok center at the end of the day recorded 56.3 percent voting, Gurgaon overall was barely 62 percent, just shows that at the end of the day, our attendance/ commitment to the democratic process is no better than the representatives we elect.
Long Live Democracy !
