Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 28, 2006
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Thursday, Sep 28, 2006 ePaper |
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Tamil Nadu
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Chennai
Karthik Subramanian
CHENNAI : More than 65 per cent of the city's registered voters did not exercise their franchise in the Chennai Corporation elections in 2001. The number of non-voters then was more than three times the votes polled by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam . Looming over the local body elections scheduled for October 13 is a big question whether Chennai voters will display a similar apathy. Civic rights activists are urging residents to treat the local body elections more seriously than even Assembly or Parliamentary elections, as they will have to interact with their councillors for bread-and-butter issues such as bad roads or poor street lights. Earlier this week, Citizens' Alliance for Good Governance, a consortium of non-governmental organisations, organised a meeting on "Citizens' role in the forthcoming Chennai City Corporation Elections". Addressing a small gathering of participants, A. K. Venkatasubramaniam, former bureaucrat, said the onus was on residents' welfare associations this year to identify and back good candidates. "Local government bodies must aspire to become local self-government bodies. Residents welfare associations must proactively participate in the election process to achieve that goal." Though the Alliance had identified 31 different coordinators for various districts and villages to identify the residents welfare associations' candidates, there were hardly any volunteers willing to come forward to carry out a similar task for Chennai. The coordinators of the Alliance not only garner support for the candidate, but also set the agenda for civic issues ranging from garbage clearance to street maintenance.
"Don't vote, don't complain"
Residents welfare group Exnora International's joint general secretary R. Govindaraj said residents, who did not vote, simply could complain about civic problems. "Unlike MLAs or MPs, councillors are the ones who are easily accessible to the residents. If a majority of the residents stay away from the elections, then there is no use complaining that the councillor does not respond to complaints." Exnora plans to carry out an intensive campaign starting next week, urging residents to vote. Voluntary organisations such as Catalyst Trust have already prepared voter awareness pamphlets. Citizens' Alliance for Good Governance can be contacted at 2449 4579. Email: catalyst-trust@eth.net.
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