News
Legal Awareness Camp on Right to Vote
12 Apr 2018
CONCEPT NOTE
India is a democratic country. The word democracy has its origin in two Greek words ‘demos’ and ‘krasis’. Demos means ‘the people, and Krasis means ‘power to rule’. So, democracy refers to the power of the common people of the land. Thus the country India will be ruled by the common people. In order to facilitate this, the common people are given a right to choose, select or pick their representatives by a system of voting called elections.
Article 326 of the Indian Constitution provides universal adult suffrage which guarantees the right to vote to every citizen of India above the age of 18. Further, Section 62 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 states that every person who is in the electoral roll of that constituency will be entitled to vote.
While there are some who genuinely cast their vote, many people sit back and relax on voting day, and others are cajoled into voting for particular candidates. The importance of voting is lost amongst the hustle and bustle of city life. While everyone sits and complains about this and that, and makes suggestions that the government should change this and that, the elections come and go without half the population paying attention.
Realizing this unfortunate state of the country I here at Legal Aid Centre of Faculty of Juridical Sciences, Rama University, Kanpur planned to conduct an awareness programme which could aware people about their rights and duties towards their country and how they can properly exercise it.
OBJECTIVES
Many a time people are disgruntled and unhappy with non-performing MLA’s and MP’s, but they don’t take any stand by casting in their vote. The main objective of the event was to make people aware of their right to vote guaranteed to them by the constitution. Also, to make them understand that they are the ones who can make the decision of having a good and clean government? The maor objectives were-
Create awareness among the residents of Unnao about their constitutional right to vote.
- To make them understand that with this right comes a huge responsibility. We need to execute the right as well as the responsibility. It is our duty to make a wise and informed decision to choose the right candidate, so that there will be good governance in our country.
- Also to tell them about the upcoming local/municipal elections in the city, if any.
- Informing them about NOTA that every vote is counted.
PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS
Before conducting the event,
- Did a research on the trends of participation of particularly the Unnao residents in the 2014 general elections and in the recent 2017 UP State assembly elections.
- Taking help from the trends selected an appropriate place for event.
- Researched about the procedures to get a Voter ID Card issued, how to get up-dations/corrections done, nearest help Centre to contact etc. in order to be prepared for all the questions asked.
RESPONSE OF THE TARGET POPULATION
In conversation with the people, found out that, quite a good amount of people had their Voter ID card issued but they didn’t vote. On further questioning, she came across different reasons which are categorized below.
- Quite a good amount of people have moved to Unnao from different villages or cities, because of which they were unable to vote there in Unnao and this information has not been updated or changed in their Voter ID card. Moreover, they had no knowledge as to how it could get updated.
- Good amount of people had card issued but did not go for voting in the recent 2017 UP Elections. On being asked the reasons, they became silent and sought to avoid the question while some replied saying it’s useless and time wasting.
- There were only a handful of people who did not have their ID card issued rest everyone had.
- Some people were unable to understand about what card I was talking about.
Depending upon their situation, she guided them and made them aware as to how they can update the information of their new residency, explained them about the benefits and importance of voting and explained the procedure of getting a Voter ID Card issued.
Overall, people were responsive and showed interest in talking to Voter ID Card. Some were also inquisitive as they kept on asking her questions about the Voter ID Card.
FUTURE PLAN OF ACTION
The people were unaware of the procedure to apply for a Voter ID Card or how to get one updated/corrected so this makes it advisable to conduct more such events. Also, it could be done in collaboration with different commissions of government responsible for creating awareness about voting rights.
SUGGESTION/FEEDBACK
Various ways in which the program could be better conducted in future are as follows:-
- It can be conducted on a larger scale.
- There could be supporting banners and posters to attract people’s attention towards the event.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Overall the people were responsive and inquisitive. They wanted to get their doubts cleared. They promised the Voter ID Card issued for their children as soon as they become eligible and will also spread awareness among their friends, family and relatives. They were happy seeing that there exist some people who selflessly bother to make them aware and empowered. In all the opinion, the event was a success.