Introduction
With each general election, the number of politicians with
criminal records entering into the corridors of power has been increasing steadily.
This alarming situation is mainly due to the open patronage by all political
parties. These parties somehow want the number in the Parliament and State
Legislative Council or Assembly. These
people know how to get the people vote for them and the parties they owe their
affiliation to. The ordinary electorate does not want to interfere in the
choice of the candidates. They are ready to vote for whichever candidate the
parties choose in the run up to the general elections to the Parliament and the
State Assembly.
Political Parties Run After People with Power
In the race for getting the maximum number of seats, the
political parties only look for the ability of the prospective candidates to
woo the audience. The common man either endorses the work of the candidate or
gets coerced to vote for a particular party or candidate. Either way, he ends
up voting for a particular party or individual. If we look at the election
scenario currently prevalent in the country, we can be sure that people with
less development record are getting selected due to the money and muscle power.
Using these two add-ons, the electorates are made to vote for a particular
party. Most often people with criminal records have both of these add-ons.
Hence, the political parties don’t have to worry about the expenses that need
to be met while doing the campaigning in a general election.
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Traditional Vote Bank
The traditional voter base of the political parties has been
voting for whichever candidate their political parties field for the
elections. That is why political parties
have become emboldened in their moves. The parties rely on these people while
selecting the candidates. Without thinking over the real profile of the
candidates chosen, people constituting the vote bank of parties cast their
votes. Mostly, people constituting the traditional vote bank blindly believe in
whatever the leaders of the political parties say. It looks as if people have
lost their ability to think rationally.
They love to become the pawns at the hands of the political gamblers and
opportunists. The leaders of political parties play with their vote bank to
extract some mileage post election.
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Way Forward
The electorates need to assert themselves and try to read
about the work history of the candidates chosen by the political parties. They
should make the political parties think about people while selecting the
candidates. If they start exerting themselves, the political parties start
towing their lines in tune with that. This way also would help stop the
family-oriented politicking. Whoever is chosen by the political parties, his or
her work has to be looked at before casting the vote. This realization has
started percolating in the minds of people slowly. Only this way, the political
parties start listening to people. All these years, people have been listening
to what the political party leaders used to say and vote for whoever they had endorsed.
