We have assembly elections in our state tomorrow. All establishments have been to informed to
allow their employees to vote. In order to allow employees to vote, they should be given a day off from work. The
Election Commission takes a very
serious view if any establishment does
not give a paid off to its employees on
the day of the election by punishing with a fine. There is
also a lot of adverse publicity due to
this.
In the last election six months ago we also ran a campaign called “Power of 49” to
help female voters to turnout in large numbers. Despite
all campaigning the voter turnout in my constituency was a mere 54%. Most
organisations have very few
options but only comply.
Looking a clean pair of hands I asked my colleagues why did
they not vote as the company was closed and they had an opportunity to do
so. The sheepish grins left our
imaginations to guess the reasons.
In the whole value chain of
voting I find there are many a slip,
first and foremost the intent of the person to register himself as a
voter, next to follow is the efficiency
of the government machinery to register
the voter followed by technical glitches and
locating the booth etc. The
Government does plug one
loophole by declaring a holiday to
facilitate voting. However many have already been excluded since they have never been enrolled
as voters.
The question is do employees and citizens
have an opportunity to vote? Yes
they do by and large.
Do they have the
right to Vote? Yes they do have
however do they have the responsibility to
vote? Perhaps they have never really
asked this question. Perhaps they
never will.
If we make it a responsibility to vote, we could
also make them accountable for
discharging this responsibility.
The citizen and
employee could be made accountable for registering himself as a
voter, followed by voting on the
scheduled date. The employer’s role is merely to give a paid off, and it does not give him
the opportunity to ask the employees to ask “why did they
not vote?
Article 326 of our constitutions gives us the right to vote, however it does not speak about the responsibility to Vote. Every
right also has a responsibility. It
would mean all concerned in the chain to make the vote happen will discharge their
responsibility and be held accountable if it is not done.
John D Rockefeller
aptly summed it up that Every right implies a responsibility; Every
opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty. Perhaps we start viewing our rights in this
manner.
