Today we vote

But for whom?

It's the same people and their relatives who are standing up for election again. We live in the largest democracy in the world, yes, but where's the choice? We have a multi-party system, yes, still, where's the choice? Today, they expect Bangalore-urban to get more involved, but involved in what? OK, so we'll look at the civic issues: roads, drainage, the environment, crime, bureaucracy and someone will have a manifesto that deals with all these issues and we'll choose them. But after that, what? We don't have any processes in place to ensure accountability. The only thing we can do is not give the candidate a second term. But one term is plenty of time for them to do their damage or not do anything at all and mint enough money to see their next three generations through.

My biggest grouse is that even if they deal with civic, educational and economic issues, citizen safety, individual freedoms and communal harmony are never an agenda. When you're funded by organizations that cause trouble, you can't really prevent them from doing what they do when they decide that things have been too quiet for too long. It's also sad that independent candidates who want to make a difference are bullied out of the race before they even begin. Money screams.

I see another coalition coming into power. If the citizen's voice isn't heard in a single-party government, where's the scope for feedback in a coalition? They're too busy trying to fill seats in the legislature to care about what's happening outside the building. It's politics at a purely personal level. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

This'll be the third election I've voted in since I turned eighteen. I've voted for candidates rather than parties, but I have no say in anything once they've won. We need a process for maintaining accountability. These people are supposed to represent us. Do they really? And both we and they should realize that they work for us.