As the democracy matures...

16th April was election time in Hyderabad - a holiday for many private establishments to facilitate their employees to exercise their franchise. It was a nice feeling for me to exercise my vote from my permanent address; I missed the previous elections because of change of address. There's something that made this election different from the previous ones. The awareness and education on the importance of voting, especially for younger generation, who don't relish talking politics. Worth mentioning is the Ads on TV- one by Tata Tea and many other types of awareness campaigns in rural areas. So there was something more than the usual rhetoric and rigmarole.

With each election, the number of parties seem to increase, we seem to move more and more towards coalition governments. This requires sound judgement in positively participating in the process to strengthen our democracy. Being world's largest democracy by itself doesn't mean anything - the challenge lies in evolving the right policies and sustaining our efforts in providing equal opportunities for development through a stable government. It's time we find ways to avoid frequent elections as coalitions may not be able to last a full term, given the fact that each election process drains our exchequer.

The election commission deserves a mention since it's no easy task managing this process efficiently, ensuring that it goes smoothly despite disruptions...in a country as huge as ours, with so many states, union territories that require different administrative processes...in different climatic conditions, difficult terrains, threatening situations, till the counting of votes closes and the verdict is announced.