On April 19, elections will begin in India. Elections are always the most important factor in democracy. A democratic country is one where people choose their representative, through voting, who leads the nation for development and welfare.
Voting is a very important fundamental right of every human being who has attained a legal age of 18 years. Every five years, elections are held in our country, where all eligible voters vote for their desired representative. All the candidates in elections use methods like campaigning, rallies, and propaganda to lure voters.
So, it is the choice of the voters as to whom they want to vote. Voting is a crucial matter. Every person needs to take voting seriously. Voting decides who is going to represent us and work for our country.
But most of the time, voters don't use their power in the right way; sometimes they choose the wrong leaders by getting falsely influenced, sometimes by fear, or sometimes by a lack of knowledge about political parties and the backgrounds of the candidates. Some election candidates usually have criminal backgrounds or are alleged to have committed crimes like murder, extortion, and rape. They nominate themselves for election with the support of political parties, and people vote for them either with fear or under ill-influence.
The dark picture comes out with the data that says 13% of the candidates were accused of grave crimes like murder, rape, and heinous crimes against women.
There are few examples like:
Anand Mohan Singh, born on January 28, 1954, is a politician and the founder of the now-closed Bihar People's Party (BPP). Не was sentenced to life in prison for his role in instigating the killing of Gopalganj district magistrate, G. Krishnaiah, in 1994.
Mukhtar Ansari, born on June 30, 1963, is a known Indian gangster and politician from Uttar Pradesh. He has been elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Mau constituency five times, with two of those times as a candidate for the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Atiq Ahmed, who lived from August 10, 1962, to April 15, 2023, was both a gangster and a politician in India. He held positions as a member of the Indian Parliament and the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, representing the Samajwadi Party.
The NN Vohra committee’s report on the criminalization of politics discussed how criminal gangs flourish under the care and protection of politicians. Many times, the candidates themselves are the gang leaders. This protection is paid back to them during elections through capital investment in election spending and voter support.
Statistics show that the percentage of candidates with criminal cases in the 2009 election was 15%, which increased to 17% in 2014, but it exacerbated to 19% in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in India, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
It is an old saying: A bad fish gets the whole pond dirty. If people vote for the wrong candidate, then this is going to be harmful for themselves and the country.
This is a very concerning thing. The election commission needs to conduct a proper background check before giving out nomination letters, and voters also need to be aware of the person for whom they are voting for, whom they let represent them, and whom they let make the laws.