Citizens of Bengaluru, why are you so indifferent to exercise your right to vote?

Bengaluru: Evenas the first phase of Lok Sabha polls has completed in Karnataka, the scenario is no different. Although there has been a good response in Bengaluru since Friday morning, middle-aged and senior citizens are coming to vote in large numbers in several polling booths, but it is saddening that the youth and young women are not seen in large numbers.

Even after several awareness campaigns to vote, the young men and women who are eligible to vote, citizens of Bangalore who have come from outside, software engineers, were requested to come and vote, do your duty. But the younger generation voter turnout is not even half the elder ones. Why should there be a fuss every time there is an election?

Bangalore Central recorded 54.06 per cent, Bangalore South - 53.17 per cent, Bangalore North - 54.45 per cent and Bangalore Rural - 68.30 per cent voter turnout. The highest voter turnout was recorded in Mandya (81.67 per cent), followed by Kolar (78.27 per cent) and Tumkur (78.05 per cent), the EC said. During the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the voter turnout was 54.32 percent in Bengaluru Central, 54.76 percent in Bengaluru North, and 53.70 percent in Bengaluru South.

A resident of Bengaluru, 94-year-old Air Marshal PV Iyer cast his vote within an hour of polling. When such seniors are enthusiastically voting, why don’t you vote? The Election Commission has questioned the younger citizens on Twitter through the post.

Former Prime Minister, 90-year-old senior politician HD Deve Gowda, too, came with the help of his aides and voted for Hassan, though unable to walk. 77-year-old veteran NR Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, has also cast his vote after being discharged from the hospital.

Kannada movie stars like Raghavendra Rajkumar, Ganesh, Vijay, Bharti, Upendra, Sudharani, cricket stars like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, luminaries like Sudha Murthy, Narayana Murthy came with their families and exercised their right to democracy. Hundreds of people came from abroad to vote.

Why this apathy, indifference, indifference to come to the polling booth among the people of Bangalore when so many people around us are inspiring people to vote, when celebrities are asking others to come and vote in large numbers?

Election is a festival that comes once in five years. Some reluctance to participate in this celebration of duty. Many people are entitled to vote in their hometowns, but their names are not included in the voter list here, even though they are residing in Bangalore. Isn’t it a crime to not vote even if your name is on the voter list and you have an identity card? There is no doubt that most of them are middle-aged and senior citizens. In the last assembly elections too, the voter turnout in Bengaluru was low. People from other states, people who came for education, people who came to settle down for work have settled here for decades. However, it is a tragedy that many people have not even tried to get a voter ID card, and even if they have made it, their name is not registered in the voter list.

As it is, when a holiday is given for polling, and there is a weekend, most people pack their bags and leave Bangalore to have fun with their family and friends.

Those who did not exercise their right, after coming back, they are the ones who complain that it is not right. Why shouldn’t software companies, government offices, other private companies, take action against these (un)citizens who don’t exercise their right to vote?. “The people who have not voted has no right to speak on the problems,” said Actress Rachita Ram.