Voter's dilemma

The state elections at Karnataka are around the corner. Thinking of myself as an informed voter and a responsible citizen invariably ends up tying me up in knots. This time around, a local community of volunteers in my area did a commendable job of inviting the candidates from major political parties, handing out a manifesto our local community needs and recording their responses to a common set of questions to assess the candidate's readiness. That is a great way of engaging in this democratic process. But unfortunately, all this has only led to more questions than answers !

I certainly envy the alleged mass of voters who turn up to vote just because they got some cash, alcohol, clothes (often all of these and more from multiple parties) or some other "incentive". You really do not care who gets elected as you just wait for the next round of elections (and the next set of "incentives").  With no such direct "incentives" , we only a motivation to elect a candidate who can save burning lakes, put roads, manage traffic on roads that exist, provide continuous and quality electricity, water and sewage. That is a short list of burning problems in our area. 

Turns out that while the democratic system has devised mechanisms to address all of these, we have also guaranteed that none of this is easily accomplished. Between a corrupt municipal corporation, endless bickering between the corporator, MLA,state level MP's and central ministries who invariably end up from different political parties and have no interest to work together on common citizen interests, we basically end up with no real change on the ground. 

Doing my homework on all the candidates, applying some parameters such as - minimum education, no criminal history, some track record of governance - if I pick a candidate, I would have the satisfaction of being an informed voter but if the candidate does not win, I end up wondering if all that analysis was worth the time and effort.

So the dilemma is - is it better to go out and vote knowing well that your vote, while it counts, won't have an impact on the final outcome or forego your duty and not vote. This frustration led to the introduction of None of the Above (NOTA) option which does not help much unless a majority exercise that option.

May 12 is the Election Day. A decision to be made by then. 

And then forget about it.