We Vote thanks to the Mug-Shot App

Before I write anything I must confess I have never voted in my life. Yes, like thousands, or maybe more, in this country I was also apathetic towards this whole idea of voting. What was the use I thought? Why would I want to choose among those dhoti or kurta clad uneducated, brazen and criminal scumbags? But my perspective changed as I grew older and dare I say even wiser.

Remember the movie Rang De Basanti which ran successfully a couple of years back? I was still in college when it had released. There was a scene in it that I still distinctly recall. It made the point that to save our country from ruin we need to be part of the system and drive the change from within. Not that it had any influence on me then but let’s just say I relate to it more today than I did a few years back. It sounds ridiculous yes; after all why would anyone want to be part of this muck? But in spite of that it is undeniably true.

However not everyone is a Kejriwal. It’s not child’s play to halt one’s life and devote it for the country. And regretfully I must admit that I too don’t have the drive to do what he has dared to do. But then there is still one way in which I can help people like him bring in the change. There is still one way to ensure that the dhoti clad sycophants are replaced by an honest lot. And that my friend is voting! Yes, like it or not for people like me voting is the way to push for revolution in our nation. And that too without unsettling our lives, as selfish as it sounds!

But how do we ensure that this very essence of voting, the need for it, is realized by the electorate. The new generation, the youth and all those between the 18 to 40 years age bracket at-least need to realize the massive importance of casting their votes. And since this is a generation smitten by social media what better way to influence them than through the social media itself?

The greatest mental block that I had for not endorsing the idea of voting was the lack of information about candidates. Since every other politician also doubled as a criminal, in my view the choices available were all variations of the same rotten apple, and none apt for my taste. And I’m sure this is what a lot of people out there thought as well every time there was an election.

Perhaps if I had at my disposal comprehensive reports about each contestant, I wouldn't still be a first time voter going into next year’s polls. And this information deficit on candidates is the very reason that thousands have never ever bothered to cast their votes. To overcome this what we need is an independent source of data as against the self-praising harps of those courting our votes. What we need is a source of information other than the paid media on candidates, unless we are willing to do the hard work of digging up material ourselves. Since the latter is unlikely we need someone to do that impartially and objectively for us.

As every other habitually lethargic individual of this tech savvy generation, I wouldn't mind acquiring the entire record of the person wooing my vote at the touch of a button. And what better way to get that than through an App? And perhaps we could call it the Mug-Shot App! It would give the electorate first-hand information about the candidate like criminal cases pending against him, work done in the past in his constituency, his qualification, his agenda and the road map to realize the agenda. A kind of report card of politicians, what say? Through this app people could be encouraged to vote for they would have something substantial to base their decision on. The voting apathy would disappear for votes would not be wasted on hooligan politicians. There would be a section for reviews too which would go on to be part of the Mug-Shot for the next election. Information they say is power and this information on candidates would be the catalyst to make each of us exercise our power of voting.

The masses today are bright enough to realize that the way forward for the nation is with honest and learned politicians. We have had enough of this uneducated and brash lot. We want to vote for people who are clean in terms of their records and have a solid educational background as well. We want to vote for people based on what they would implement and how. So that’s where the Mug-Shot App would come into picture. It would help us decide if those contesting elections get all the right checks from our perspective or not. Basically it would help us eliminate all bad choices and zero in on the rightful candidate.

Having their past record, criminal history, memo and educational qualification at our disposal prior to voting would be a windfall. It would help us select. This is what we need, the electorate deciding based on certain key parameters without having to depend on paid media. An app like Mug-Shot App would force these people to deliver and be accountable. It would be their mug shot with their entire life history printed on it, one that would decide whether they get to sit on the seat or not! So what do you say would you vote if you had the Mug-Shot App with testimonials, facts and statistics on each and every candidate?

PS: I have registered myself on the voter list. I would be going out to vote next year. You must do the same. It's high time we exercise our right for the betterment of this country we call home.