DANCE FOR DEMOCRACY

I’m a 20 year old Indian citizen eligible to vote. But after 4 failed attempts to get a voter ID card, I’m beginning to wonder why we’re even called a democracy.

One of the first things my parents insisted on after I turned eighteen was to apply for this all essential government document. So this becomes attempt number one. I waited and waited for those verification lists to be released. But nothing happened. No list no name. I figured that it wasn’t that bad a situation. I was sure loads of people apply more than once.

So we come to attempt number two. Again form filled, again no name. By this time I had completely lost interest. My parents still had some hope.

What changed my mind was this campaign by some RWAs to help people get voter-id cards. I made my enquiries and made my way to Rockwood School. So this became attempt 3. This time I was confident that I would FINALLY get the card. But then again I trust the system way too much for my own good.

This brings me to attempt four. Furious and agitated, Mumma and I made our way to the Election office. It wasn’t difficult to find, half of Noida seemed headed in that direction!
There were 2 windows for submitting the forms and a lot of people. Obviously, as Indians we still don’t understand the concept of lines. So basically everybody was on top of each other trying to reach that elusive window. Pushing and shoving people in my way I finally reached the counter only to be greeted by a signboard that said” Submit form, no enquiry allowed” . There were so many people that none of the forms were being checked. I was handed my fourth receipt and told to wait at least a month before I even enquire.

The whole exercise seemed like such a farce. There are no codes or receipts numbers on the acknowledgement I’ve been handed out four times. Even if I want to, I can’t track down the status of my application. I have a feeling that somewhere in some dilapidated government office millions of forms are just rotting away.

Not the poverty nor the unemployment or terrorism, this feudal voter-id issuing system has been the biggest failure of our democracy. I want to vote, I’ve done everything in my power to be eligible to (except bribing someone) but I still can’t exercise my right.

We might be called the biggest democracy in the world, but I’d like to see how many people of this huge population actually had a stress free ride while obtaining their voter-id card.