Right to Vote
Overview
India is a democracy and all citizens above the age of 18 have the right to vote in government elections in India. This right to vote is available to all citizen equally and no discrimination can be done on basis of caste, religion, gender, financial status, education or any other basis. Technically, right to vote is not a fundamental right as per the constitution of India, however it is an important right and no citizen of India should be denied his right to vote. Right2Vote Infotech Private Limited came into being in 2015 with the single point mission of ensuring that nobody is denied his right to vote. And therefore, we named our company “Right2Vote” .
Right to vote in Government Elections in India
When we hear the term “Right to vote” the first thing that comes to our mind is government elections. In India we have following three types of direct government elections where the citizens directly vote to elect their representatives:
Lok Sabha Elections or the Indian National Elections:Lok Sabha elections is the biggest election in the country. In this election around 100 crore Indians are eligible to vote. Elections goes on for more than 2 months. More than Rs. 30,000 crores are spent on elections. More than 1.5 crore people manage this election. The election is to elect 543 Members of Parliaments (MPs) in the Lok Sabha or the lower house. The Lok Sabha MPs are directly elected by the public and then these 543 MPs elect the Prime Minister (PM) of India.
Vidhan Sabha Elections or the state elections: Vidhan Sabha elections is also a direct election where Member of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of each state are elected directly by the citizens of the state. These elected MLAs then elect the Chief Minister (CM) from among themselves. India has 28 states and 8 union territories. All these states and union territories vote and elect their MLAs.
Panchayat and Municipal body elections or the Local body election: Each village and town in the country has panchayat or municipal body election, based on the size of the village or town. This is also a direct election and citizens of respective villages and towns elect their own representatives. In India we have lakhs of villages and thousands of towns.
Right now, average voter turnout in these elections is less than 66%. This means one third of voters are being denied their right to vote. It is imperative that online voting option should be provided to voters so that voter turnout is increased and nobody is denied his right to vote. But government elections are not the only elections. There are many other elections where members are being denied their right to vote and online voting can solve that.
Right to vote in Association Elections
There are different kinds of associations like trade associations, professional associations, religious associations, home owners’ association, students’ associations, alumni associations, employees’ associations and many others. The one thing common about all these associations is that members of these associations are being denied their right to vote due to booth-based voting.
Most of these associations, unlike national elections, cannot afford to set up booths across the country. However, the members of these associations are spread across the country and the world. It is very unfair to expect these members to travel all the way to one specific booth at the head quarters of the association to vote. Online voting or eVoting can provide these members their right to vote.
Right to vote in Housing Society Elections
India has more than 20 lakh housing societies. There are small housing societies where number of members is less than 250 and there are large housing societies where number of members are in thousands.
In these housing societies also, members are being denied their right to vote due to booth based voting and online voting can help them get their right to vote.
There are home owners who have given out their flats to tenants and living in some other geographical area, at times in different country. It is not feasible for these house owners to travel to the society office only to vote. Similarly, there are old people or medically sick people who are not able to travel to the booth to vote. There are home owners who are resident of the society but are travelling on the election day or have work during the voting window. Online voting can help all of them reclaim their right to vote.
Right to vote in Student Elections
There are thousands of schools and colleges in India. In all these schools and colleges various kinds of elections keep on happening including election of class monitor, department election, college elections, hostel elections, alumni elections, interest group elections, parents’ teachers’ association (PTA) elections, teachers’ elections. Apart from elections, there are various kind of opinion polls that happens among students on various matters like feedback on mess food, electives they want school to offer and many others.
Online voting option is much more efficient than current method of voting in these schools and colleges. Not only online voting ensures that no student is denied his or her right to vote, eVoting is also much more efficient, secured and transparent.
Right to vote in Employee and other Union Elections
Employee unions are there not only in government organizations but also in private organizations. Unions are there among people of similar profession like farmers union, teachers’ union, OLA drivers’ unions, Amazon delivery personnel union, taxi drivers’ union.
Union elections are not only about electing representatives to represent in front or management or fight with management on the behalf of members for their right. Many times, these union elections and polls are for social events and opinion poll. Whatever the purpose, it is important that no member of the union is denied his right to vote. However, in traditional booth-based voting systems, it is very difficult to ensure right to vote to everybody. It is not economical to create booths across the country nor it is feasible for all members to travel to the booth and stand in a queue to vote in such polls or elections. Online voting can help increase voter turnout and ensure all voters get their right to vote. eVoting will not only ensure right to vote to all but will also make the poll or election much more efficient, secured, transparent and trustworthy.
Right to vote in Corporate Voting
In companies’ various kinds of voting or polls take place on the regular basis. Some of these polls are regulatory requirement and are very critical, sensitive and high value voting events while there are other polls and voting events which are more for social interaction, feedback collection and opinion gathering. Examples of Corporate voting events include shareholder voting, creditors voting, board of directors voting, employees voting, departments internal democracy, customer feedback, vendor / agent / retailer / distributor / wholesaler opinion poll and feedback.
In all these cases it is important that no member should be denied their right to vote in these polls. However, the various stakeholders of a company, be it shareholder, creditor, vendor, employee, board of director, wholesaler etc are not present in one place and spread across the country and the world. Hence online voting or eVoting is the only viable option to ensure right to vote to all stakeholders and traditional booth-based voting will lead to denial of right to vote.
Right to vote in NGO, Media, Club and other elections
Voting happens everywhere. In Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) for selection of management committee, for opinion poll for feedback. In Media for reality shows, game shows, opinion polls and exit polls, social interactions. Voting happens in political parties, small and medium enterprises, startups, religious organizations, cooperatives, societies, trusts. Voting is required everywhere. This also means everywhere members are being denied their right to vote due to traditional booth-based voting systems which require a voter to travel to the booth to vote. Hence, it is imperative that all organizations should migrate all voting events to online voting to ensure right to vote to all.
We should not undermine the importance of voting in non-government elections. Yes, government elections are very critical and hence it is important that nobody is denied right to vote in such elections to ensure effective democracy in the country. However, it is equally important that all organizations in the country, no matter how small, is run in a democratic fashion and nobody is denied his or her right to vote. Ensuring right to vote to all, for all kind of organizations, will help us build a real democratic and non-discriminatory culture in the country.
