Vote, It’s Our Right! But Whom Should I Vote For?

Vote, It’s Our Right! But Whom Should I Vote For? – PART II

Moodbidri/ Mnagaluru: The following is the Second Part of the article: “Vote, It’s Our Right! But Whom Should I Vote For?” which was published on 24 April 2018:

CHECKLISTS/TEST “A”-WHOM SHOULD I VOTE FOR? {see instruction sheet}

TEST “A”

(1) The candidate is a known rowdy, goonda or/and has a criminal background & record? has he been convicted by a court? Political parties keep filing FiR’s and making charges against each other, hence it is not necessary that someone has done a criminal act until a court has taken cognizance and convicted the accused. Just because someone wears suit/boot or FULL WHITE DHOTI/KURTA need not mean that that person is clean! Y/N

(2) If the candidate is contesting 2nd, 3rd term etc.- his/her personal or the family’s net worth/assets have visibly increased disproportionately and illogically to his/her income & investments? In which case the said ER (elected representative) must certainly be corrupt. Y/N

(3) The candidate does not believe in rule of law? he/she regularly participates in mob violence, promotes mobocracy {rule or domination by the masses}, threatens people, disobeys court/tribunal/commission orders, calls for bandhs, instigates riots and arson, through back-door channels encourages his/her supporters to break the law, kill dissidents or people with different opinions etc.? Y/N

(4)  The candidate is not learned and educated? Knowledge need not come from college degrees alone but a minimum of a college education is always better as once the candidate is elected he/she will become a lawmaker and he/she will have to read and understand a lot of complicated matters. Y/N

(5) The candidate is not actually physically living in your constituency? this means he knows and experiences little of the local conditions and problems and does not experience the same difficulties that you experience and therefore he will not be interested in solving the difficulties faced by you as it does not personally affect him/her. Y/N

(6) If the candidate is contesting 2nd, 3rd term etc.- it is very difficult to meet or contact the candidate after the election. He/She thinks they have become the KING/QUEEN/SULTAN/MAHARAJA; they treat the common man (unless you are rich, powerful and famous) like you are a beggar or slave seeking alms/crumbs; you do not have the full contact details of the candidate and you cannot access the candidate whenever you want to (by appointment or directly – in an urgency). He/she moves only among the high and mighty circle of power and wealth and is out of the reach of the common ordinary man. he/she appears only for inaugurations, wedding parties, major functions, TV shows, photo-ops etc. where he /she gets publicity as “ chief-guest” and is made to feel important and is put on a pedestal and made to give a speech, garlanded etc. , and where his/her photo and video will appear in the news…. But he/she has no time for the ordinary citizen who has to run from pillar to post to obtain his rightful service from govt.; Y/N

(7)If the candidate is contesting 2nd, 3rd term etc.- the candidate does not reply to you whenever you have written to him asking him/her questions about shortages, poor govt. services, lack of facilities in your area or need for certain regulations or laws etc. ? Y/N

(8) If the candidate is contesting 2nd, 3rd term etc.- the candidate does not accept responsibility, blame, accountability for the lack of amenities or facilities or when there are administrative/governmental failures in your area? but he/she is the first to take credit, if it gives his/her image good publicity, even if he/she had nothing to do with the good thing that has been achieved. Y/N

(9) If the candidate is contesting 2nd,3rd term etc – the candidate did not visit your area at predetermined regular intervals around the year during his tenure, after sufficiently advertising his visit, so as to meet the local people(not just his chamchas) and to try to understand the hardships and difficulties faced and lack of amenities and facilities in each area of his/her constituency. Y/N

(10) If the candidate is contesting 2nd, 3rd term etc – candidate spends public/tax-payer money on self-publicity putting up hoardings, everywhere, with his photos – on roadsides, in newspapers, on TV etc. thus defacing public spaces and spending crores of public money to advertise him/herself instead of spending that on actual development work. This is one of the reasons why the quality of work done by govt.contractor has to be compromised as the contractor has to pay for all these expenses from the money sanctioned by govt. for the work. Y/N

(11) If the candidate is contesting 2nd,3rd term etc. When development work is done using MLA/ MP fund the candidate puts up hoardings with his photos telling lies that HE/SHE has given the money to build and construct facilities for the public instead of saying that the money was given from govt. funds paid by tax-payers. When suggesting projects for sanction of money, from govt. funds allocated to MLA/MP for urgent development work, the candidate favours only powerful persons and organizations and areas of supporters of him/his party only – who can muster more votes and publicity for him ; instead of spending the tax-payers money on unbiased development for all and especially for the most important basics and needy persons first ? Y/N

(12) The candidate is known to unlawfully influence the decisions and interfere with the working of police, govt. administration and courts so as to bring a result in his/her favour or to favour his/her supporters? Y/N

(13) Candidate does not desire to give full autonomy to the police and does not desire to give the best equipment and training to the police and does not desire to increase police strength as per international norms so that when you call the police they can arrive at your house within 5 mins to protect you, even if you live far away in a remote area? because the corrupt and criminal politician does not want an efficient police service to catch him/her. Y/N

(14) The candidate does not want to increase the funding to courts, to appoint more judges, give latest technology equipment to courts – so as to bring courts up to international standards, so that courts can give better quality decisions and faster within not more than 6 months. because the corrupt and criminal politician does not want an efficient judiciary to convict him/her and his troublemaking supporters. Y/N

(15) The candidate does not want to remove all shortages of staff and equipment in all govt. offices, commissions, tribunals & c? no govt. offices must say they have a shortage and hence cannot do their work properly and in time. the candidate does not want to give full autonomy to the administration to work as per the procedures and not as per the pleasure of the politician. Y/N

(16) The candidate believes in wasting tax-payer money in constructing statues and unnecessary structures for his own vainglory and vested interests rather than ensuring that nobody goes hungry and that everybody will get a good education and that everybody will have a job and that everybody will have better access to health, security and justice and a fearless and better standard of living. And that forests and environment is not destroyed Y/N

(17) The candidate believes in promoting specific religions, caste systems and their activity as a vote bank? Meaning the candidate does not want separation of state and religion. as an elected representative he/his govt. should not promote or cause the taxpayers money to be spent on promoting religions and their activity as that is not the job of government in a democracy. Progress is not possible unless the state stops funding and spending govt. time on religious activities. Y/N

(18) The candidate takes part in unnecessarily disrupting Loka Sabha assembly/ local body proceedings to further his own vested interests. Y/N

(19) The candidate does not support/practice (in action)transparency and accountability of government and political parties and does not support RTIAct. Y/N

(20) The candidate does not promote/practice( in action) the right to time-bound services by government offices. Y/N

(21) The candidate does not attend Assembly or Parliament regularly. Y/N

(22) The candidate does not represent the problems faced by his constituency during the Assembly or Parliament sessions. Y/N

(23) If the candidate is contesting 2nd, 3rd term etc: Corruption has not visibly reduced in govt. offices in your area; govt. officials do not treat you with respect, courtesy and politeness; efficiency of work has not improved in govt. offices in your area, govt. offices are running without transparency and accountability, govt. offices do not reply to you. Govt officers do not provide govt services in a timely manner. There are shortages of staff and equipment in all your govt. offices. govt. staff are not paid on time, so they also are less interested in their work and resort to taking bribes. Y/N

{24) If the candidate is contesting 2nd,3rd term etc: The candidate uses tax-payers money to distribute “freebies” such as free sarees, free religious pilgrimages, free 2 wheelers, free food, free laptops, free weddings, free govt. land, etc. instead of providing better education or creating jobs so that the people can be self-dependent and not dependent on the candidate. Nothing comes free: the politician has a tie-up with some company- then the politician fools the public by announcing free gifts- then he uses govt./tax-payer/public money to pay the company – for this the politician receives commissions and favours. So the public actually loses and the politician gains. Then the govt. coffers get empty -then the politician raises the taxes-actual good quality development and services for the public is further and further delayed. Y/N

(25) The candidate does not have a written manifesto of what he/she will do if elected manifesto is easily available for you to read whenever you want to, containing the philosophy, ideology, blueprint of plans of what he/she will do and how? If the candidate is contesting 2nd, 3rd term etc – you are not satisfied with what they have fulfilled in real and ethical terms from their previous manifesto? Y/N

(26) The candidate is always talking about war and of fighting with neighbouring and other countries rather than talking about peace and resolution of differences through dialogue and diplomatic channels. Y/N

(27) Source of funding and estimated planned expenditure for the election campaign of the candidate is not transparent and not openly available for you to check. because from here begins the cycle of corruption. Candidates and parties spend crores of rupees on campaigning and advertising for elections: candidates may be criminals with a lot of unaccounted black-money and also they may be funded by big businesses/companies so that if the candidate and party wins then they will pass legislation to favour that company in an unfair manner, etc. But an MLA/MP gets a salary of only about Rs. 1 to 2 lakh per month. So in 5 years, he will earn only Rs.60 lakh –1 crore. Hence, he is unable to live a good life with his family, make up for his lost earnings and election expenses and to pay back all the favours he had received during campaigning; therefore he takes bribes from govt. officials for appointments and therefore you have corrupt govt. officials as they have to recover the bribe paid to the politician; contractors also are forced to pay bribes to the politician otherwise they will be harassed by the govt. hence they use poor grades of materials and so govt. constructions are of poor quality, etc. Ultimately, the citizen suffers as he has to bribe everywhere to get his work done on time and improvement in governance and infrastructure is very slow. Y/N

(28) The candidate does not believe in complete and total freedom of expression in all its forms and manifestations. supports banning of: books, writings, art-work, movies, speech, thought processes, wants to control the press, etc. Y/N

(29) The candidate bribes you to buy your vote in the form of cash, alcohol, clothes, household items, vehicles etc. He/she must be sure that if he/she wins then he/she will make a lot of money. You can be sure that he/she is going to be very corrupt while you will never benefit unless you too are corrupt. Y/N

(30)The candidate has never done an honest day’s work in his/her life, is a good-for-nothing vagabond and views a political career as a get-rich and famous scheme with lifetime income, perks and power; without having to do much hard work. Y/N

(31) If the candidate is contesting 2nd, 3rd term etc: the candidate and govt. officials treat your time with disrespect when you go to meet them or have an appointment with them. they waste your time as if your time is not important and precious. But they act as if their time is very important and very precious. You are told that they are in a meeting or they are on field-visit or they are busy or your appointment is cancelled without informing you in advance or you are made to wait indefinitely or they meet you at a time without considering your convenience and difficulties etc. Y/N

CHECKLISTS/TEST “B”-WHOM SHOULD I VOTE?

Now, this is the final test where you make your final decision. In this test, if your answer is “No” then do not vote for him/her.

TEST B:

(1) You are a business-man. You want to hire a Manager/CEO to run your business successfully. Do you consider the candidate qualified, experienced, trained & fit to be appointed as the Manager/CEO of your business?

(2) You want to travel to America with your full family in your private aeroplane. You want to hire a pilot to fly the aeroplane safely. Do you find the candidate to be qualified, experienced, trained and fit so that you can appoint him/her to be your pilot and Captain of the aeroplane? Can you trust your entire family’s life in his/her hands?

If you cannot find a suitable candidate or party then still please vote but vote for NOTA. This will send a warning message to the political parties to field better candidates next time.

To help you in your research you may use the following websites:

Election Commission of India http://eci.nic.in/eci/eci.html

Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer http://164.100.80.163/ceo3/hm_ec.aspx

Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) https://adrindia.org/

National Election Watch (ADR) http://www.myneta.info/

by Melroy C Fernandes- Moodbidri {Social Activist}

Author’s Declaration: “Whom should I vote for? – a checklist” containing attachments – Introduction, Instructions for Test A, Test A & Test B is entirely my original writing. I have not copy-pasted or plagiarized any work by somebody/anyone else. I take full responsibility for my writing. I have gone through the Election Model Code of Conduct and do not consider my writing to be in contravention of any of its provisions. In fact, this writing is in accordance with the SVEEP of the ECI, meant to educate voters.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in the above article are solely those of the author. Mangalorean.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

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Vote, It’s Our Right! But Whom Should I Vote For?