Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Let there be free and fair elections' that was published in Newsband

Let there be free and fair elections

India has 81.45 crore people eligible to vote during the nine-phase election over a 36-day span covering 9,30,000 polling stations with 18,78,306 electronic ballot units. Thus there will be another gruelling campaign in the middle of another harsh Indian summer.

This election will see corruption and governance as major issues, along with livelihood and safety concerns. The Bharatiya Janata Party, with Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, promises a strong, able government that does not waver in decision-making. The UPA coalition, with many of the allies pulling in different directions, and some of the Ministers caught in corruption cases, has come to be seen as weak and ineffectual. The new entrant, the Aam Aadmi Party, has its focus on ending corruption and delivering services.

Being a democratic nation, public anticipation is still to visualise corruption free nation and quality bound governance oriented towards making our country a developed one.

The elected Lok Sobha is expected to address issues resting on burdens of people through unchecked price rise, abysmal employment generations, stagnated economy across most of the sectors, atrocities on women, corruption encompassing the shades of administrators and politicians, defense and foreign policy etc.

There is a need for electoral reforms and the election commission with all its power at hands must act decisively to stop all money and muscle powers from manipulating peoples' verdicts.

There is no doubt that the decade-long ruling UPA alliance has lost sheen by its magnitude of ever-swelling corruption scams. Let’s hope that this time the election is won on the basis of good governance vs corruption, and not on the basis of muscle and money power.

With the emergence of Aam Aadmi Party, with its focus on ending corruption and delivering services, for the first time, the Indian voters have a choice: whether to stick with the legacy parties with their proven records of corruption and mis-governance or to join hands and rebuild India together fit for the 21st century, so that their own children and grandchildren get a chance in life, and India doesn’t slide into a deeper hell.

In a democracy, the voters decide their own future, and let’s hope they exercise their duty and responsibility wisely. Let there be free and fair elections, with no violence of any kind.