Howdy! :)
Been a while I suppose! What with my lappy having power issues and numerous other obstacles, blogging took a back seat.
And fine, I did fall into a lazy patch too :P
Politics. One the few relatively sensitive topics people love to discuss and debate on. Personally, I hate discussions on politics. The discussions are generally about who is better and frankly, unless in those once in a Very Blue Moon (VBM) cases, I don't get how anyone of the (Indian) politicians are better!
One of those VBM cases was when IIT Madras held its elections for various Sec post, both at Insti and Hostel level, about 2 weeks back. That was when I first witnessed, in first person, a full scale election.
And believe me, I was awe-struck at the sheer depth and planning, at just the college level!
Coalitions, Spies and the sort are stuff I've just read about in various articles in newspapers. My mind always said, "Newspapers! They exaggerate everything!". Post elections, the mind said, "Sonu, anything is possible in this world!". [Note: Sonu is what I'm called by family. You ppl stick to Sree/Srdp :P]
Intricate webs of wacky alliances, false masks, vehement campaigning and anti-campaigning... We had it all!
The fun part of election is obviously, when we get to question the candidates. This is when the general public literally, verbally 'rapes' the person on the dais! Some helpless candidates almost pee in their pants when struck with an awesome question! :P
In today's politics, the trend is 'To Hell with Manifestos!'. So what is the deciding factor?
Answer: Votebanks. A term we (painfully) read throughout civics without really actually knowing how powerful they really are. Insti election showed me just how powerful they can be. To win an election, all a candidate really has to do is to appease that votebank! IITs have the general tendency to have more Telegu population, more so in Madras. After election, a running joke among us was, if you wanted to win a post here, the only requirement was to say, 'I am from Andhra Pradesh and I speak Telegu.' xD
On a more serious note, winning the elections for someone else, all depended on how they manipulated the majority votes, by making really crafty alliances with other candidates.
Something like,
A-"Ok macha! We'll deal up. I'll put coordship benefits to your people, if you ask them to vote for me"
B-"Hmm, What about the allaince between C and D?"
A- "Light le, Ive sent spies to cup their plans."
[If the language stumps you, that is close to a typical convo in our coll. :D]
Here is the funny thing: If say, the majority is supporting the cause of some fellow and the 'group leader', who may have had sudden diffrences of opinion, suddenly comes and says, "This guy is waste, lets vote for that other guy!". Everyone, without even thinking of batting an eyelid, switches decisions!
So, when all this goes on, a real, deserving candidate, who may as well have the power to bring radical and useful changes in the existing system, is sidelined. All because, he was not from the majority!
I just feel that the very purpose of holding elections is defeated, if such a situation arises.
But then again, Who is the deserving candidate?
The answer to that, maybe you should read the Blog's subheading. :)
Cheers! :)
Tweet
Been a while I suppose! What with my lappy having power issues and numerous other obstacles, blogging took a back seat.
And fine, I did fall into a lazy patch too :P
Politics. One the few relatively sensitive topics people love to discuss and debate on. Personally, I hate discussions on politics. The discussions are generally about who is better and frankly, unless in those once in a Very Blue Moon (VBM) cases, I don't get how anyone of the (Indian) politicians are better!
One of those VBM cases was when IIT Madras held its elections for various Sec post, both at Insti and Hostel level, about 2 weeks back. That was when I first witnessed, in first person, a full scale election.
And believe me, I was awe-struck at the sheer depth and planning, at just the college level!
 |
| Voting - Choosing from different shades of grey. |
Intricate webs of wacky alliances, false masks, vehement campaigning and anti-campaigning... We had it all!
The fun part of election is obviously, when we get to question the candidates. This is when the general public literally, verbally 'rapes' the person on the dais! Some helpless candidates almost pee in their pants when struck with an awesome question! :P
In today's politics, the trend is 'To Hell with Manifestos!'. So what is the deciding factor?
Answer: Votebanks. A term we (painfully) read throughout civics without really actually knowing how powerful they really are. Insti election showed me just how powerful they can be. To win an election, all a candidate really has to do is to appease that votebank! IITs have the general tendency to have more Telegu population, more so in Madras. After election, a running joke among us was, if you wanted to win a post here, the only requirement was to say, 'I am from Andhra Pradesh and I speak Telegu.' xD
On a more serious note, winning the elections for someone else, all depended on how they manipulated the majority votes, by making really crafty alliances with other candidates.
Something like,
A-"Ok macha! We'll deal up. I'll put coordship benefits to your people, if you ask them to vote for me"
B-"Hmm, What about the allaince between C and D?"
A- "Light le, Ive sent spies to cup their plans."
[If the language stumps you, that is close to a typical convo in our coll. :D]
Here is the funny thing: If say, the majority is supporting the cause of some fellow and the 'group leader', who may have had sudden diffrences of opinion, suddenly comes and says, "This guy is waste, lets vote for that other guy!". Everyone, without even thinking of batting an eyelid, switches decisions!
So, when all this goes on, a real, deserving candidate, who may as well have the power to bring radical and useful changes in the existing system, is sidelined. All because, he was not from the majority!
I just feel that the very purpose of holding elections is defeated, if such a situation arises.
But then again, Who is the deserving candidate?
The answer to that, maybe you should read the Blog's subheading. :)
Cheers! :)
