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          Lost Votes

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          Lost Votes

          Like today’s India, countless Indians are on the move. For work or education. And so are our banks accounts which automatically travel with us. And also our mobile phone numbers and income tax liabilities. Perhaps the only thing that doesn’t is our right to vote. That’s tied to the place where it’s registered in. Tied down by a rule that subtracts crores of Indians from our country’s democratic equation. It’s time to change this. Time to turn these lost votes into votes that count. Because they can shape the destiny of our nation.

          In the 2019 general elections, over 290 million Indians who were eligible to vote – over 18 years of age and with their names in the electoral rolls – did not vote. No other democracy in this planet even has as many voters. The world’s second largest democracy, the US, only had 183 million registered to vote in the 2016 presidential elections. So, over 290 million not voting isn’t just a few votes lost, it’s more than a whole voting nation lost.



          But why did so many not vote? One widely held perception is that they couldn’t care less. But is that really true? Or is it because many or most of them couldn’t vote? Think about what it takes to vote. You have to be of eligible age, you have to be registered on the electoral rolls and, most importantly, you have to be physically present where you are registered on polling day to be allowed to vote. And that’s where the rub lies.


          Our netas have decided that NRIs should have the right to vote by proxy. They are also Indians after all. But then why not those who are very much in  India but just not at the place they are registered in on voting day? It’s time this changed. Indians on the move within the country are at least as entitled to their franchise as those living abroad.

          Join us in petitioning the Election Commission and our netas to make it possible for every Indian to vote irrespective of where he or she may be temporarily located. If we have the political and administrative will, today’s world certainly has the technological way to make it possible as we will demonstrate over the course of the Lost Votes Campaign.

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