Manifesto, Rituals, Nomination, Cash, Liquor!

An electronic voting machine raised many eyebrows across the country during a mandatory mock poll in Jorhat (in Assam state of India) on last Tuesday.      Every time a button was pressed, the vote went in favour of BJP.      Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL),      one of the two companies from Hyderabad, which manufactures EVMs. An EVM consists of two units, a control unit and a balloting unit. Both unites are connected with cable. The balloting unit is a small box-like device, on top of which each candidate and his or her election symbol appears. The voter selects his candidate by pressing the blue button.      The EVMs are kept in the custody of the police and during elections they are taken to strong rooms.

While that was the case in Assam;      Over Rs. 195 crore of cash has been seized so far by Election Commission (EC) appointed teams, with Andhra Pradesh topping the list.      According to official data prepared till today, the EC-appointed Election Expenditure Observers have so far seized a total of Rs. 118 crore cash in Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 18.31 crore in Tamil Nadu, Rs. 14.40 in Maharashtra, Rs. 10.46 crore in Uttar Pradesh and over Rs. 4 crore in Punjab including numerous other small seizures in rest of the states.      Also, the total liquor seized stands at 26.56 lakh litres, heroin 70 kgs while 11,469 FIRs have been registered against distribution of cash and illegal inducements in various states.

A fleet of luxury cars, residential houses in Delhi, its suburbs and Gujarat, besides cash and jewellery, are part of the Rs.113.02 crore worth assets of senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley as were declared in an affidavit filed in Amritsar on Monday, while filing nomination.      Seemingly fond of luxury cars, Mr Jaitley has declared four wheelers including the high-end Porsche worth Rs. 1.02 crore, Mercedes Benz (Rs 78.89 lakh), BMW (Rs 85.57 lakh), Honda Accord (Rs 20.44 lakh), and Toyota Fortuner (Rs 23.28 lakh) with a combined value of Rs. 3.10 crore. Among movable assets, Mr Jaitley declared cash in hand worth Rs. 1.35 crore while his spouse has cash worth Rs. 7.5 lakh. 61-year-old Mr Jaitley has bank balance of Rs. 18.01 crore while he has investments in bonds and PPF amounting to Rs. 2 crore and Rs. 15 lakh respectively. In his affidavit, he has shown personal loans and advances worth Rs. 10.37 crore which also includes advances to his wife Sangeeta Jaitley of Rs. 8.20 crore. Mr Jaitley, who studied LLB from Delhi University in 1973-77, has gold jewellery worth Rs. 1.88 crore which includes 5,630 grams of gold jewellery,15 kg of silver and diamonds. His wife has gold jewelry, silver, diamonds worth Rs. 23.44 lakh. Among his immovable assets worth Rs. 75.70 crore, Mr Jaitley owns a plot in Faridabad (Haryana), commercial property at Cyber Park in Gurgaon, five residential properties at Delhi, Gurgaon and Gandhinagar in Gujarat.      Leader of Opposition of Rajya Sabha, Mr Jaitley has declared income to the tune of Rs. 2.16 crore for 2012-13 year and has no liability. Quite a profitable business this politics is; no wonder all are in a hurry to make their mark in politics!

It is Manifesto Time as well!!! Parties are releasing their much-delayed manifesto, just after observing the situation long enough, shortly before the start of the poll!

• The BJP manifesto, promised good governance and inclusive development with a mention of its core agenda including a Hindu temple at a disputed mosque site in Uttar Pradesh.
• The AAP party promises swift punishment for corruption, a law for a Jan Lokpal or anti-corruption ombudsman, a citizen's charter that will punish officials who don't finish work on time, decentralisation of power and self-rule.
• Congress decided to go pro-poor and promise a slew of benefits for them in its manifesto.

Arvind Kejriwal visited Gujarat for four days recently and hurled loose criticism at the state’s development.      However      Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a humanitarian leader, a spiritual teacher, and an ambassador of peace      has also quoted recently that he has travelled through the length and breadth of Gujarat over the years. In the 90s and early 2000, to see a tree in Saurashtra was a rarity. It was so drought-prone that people had to sell their cattle often. But today there is greenery everywhere. Electricity supply was scarce – hardly two hours a day. Today there is water and electricity in almost every village and the per capita income has risen. While Gujarat may not be 100 per cent corruption free, there was no hesitation from Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji that in saying that it is much better than what it used to be. Instead of being honest with facts, Arvind Kejriwal has chosen to put down Modi on flimsy grounds.      One who hasn’t learnt to stand up has no right to criticize that someone’s dance is off rhythm.

And all of them; have completed the most important ritual, before the start of voting i.e. to seek divine blessings.      And that’s how we forgive them for all their past because they are standing helpless in front of our beloved GOD!

This is what I am explaining to people around me since last 6 months that vote is very serious thing and should not be cast on emotional slogans.      Voters should understand that when casting vote for national election for MP seat one must seriously consider administrative experience and national outlook in leadership.