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How would they vote?

by RajaB

One of my friends was concerned, with the General Elections looming and IPL coinciding, that too in a different continent. How would his favorite Indian cricketers vote?

He being the most optimistic person I know (perhaps more optimistic than Munaf Patel – The fielder, while attempting a sliding stop) he was of the opinion that they would take a mid tournament break, chart a plane and comeback to vote. The most optimistic statement of his was that the cricketers are law abiding, constitution loving Indian citizens.

There were also a couple of others who were of the opinion that the Indian cricket team should be equated to the Indian armed forces in terms of their electoral rights, they should be allowed a postal vote. While I appreciate the love and concern we have for our cricketers rights, there are a couple of things we need to remember.

Indian army is not registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. As many of us might know, the President of India is supposed to be the Supreme commander of the Indian armed forces (not Sharad Pawar or a Lalit Modi, yet !!).

Indian armed forces truly represent the Indian citizens, it is a governmental body. BCCI is a private society who by their own admission to courts say that they don’t represent India. So why does one give BCCI (a private society) the same privilege the Indian armed forces get.

The average Indian cricketer is so well off these days that he need not necessarily vote to get his MP or ministers, he can buy one whenever he wants.

And even otherwise, I wouldn’t want to believe that anyone sitting abroad, especially the Indian cricketers (working or at leisure) would want to spend money on air tickets and time to come and vote. This is, unless you are Aamir Khan and that too because someone paid you (in cash or kind) to act in an advertisement and made you say that you would comeback (from your vacation) to vote. Now you have to because you have announced your intent in public and you would get sufficient PR if and when you comeback to vote.

4 comments:

Gaurav Sethi said...

raja, appears msd's name was being proposed to encourage the voting process.

just imagine the strong signals sent out if the Elections' brand ambassador, msd flies down to india just to cast his vote -
and what if he misses a crucial game, that would be something. country before cricket!

RajaB said...

I can't even imagine that scenario NC, in reality even if MSD is paid to attempt that, the commisioner (Lalit Modi, mind you and not the election commisioner!!) would make sure that there are no matches during that period.

And I am amused with this whole drama of having Election brand ambassadors... What are we trying to achieve by having a MSD or a Aamir Khan?

Just another couple of lakhs wasted on advertisements and fees, which is again something you and me pay for. Who knows, may be it is the election commision which would pay for Aamir Khan's trip back to India to vote (it might be part of his remuneration) !!

At the end of the day Indian polity is going to remain the gutter it is, irrespective of whether 100 people vote or 100 million vote.

straight point said...

i am with rajaB on this issue...its just a media spectacle nothing more...nothing less...paid and sponsored ultimately by our pocket...

if election commission is serious they should make a system of online voting (using one's unique security key)...at least we will be spared of this useless drama with far less costs involved...

Poshin_david said...

Nice article........

I surely would luv to know whom Tendulkar or Dravid would vote for but sadly won't.

But regarding the postal vote, Indian criceters shold not and probably will not be given that right as the article mentions that BCCI is a private institution. BCCI don't share their profits with the Government do they? But they still expect the government to pay their bill of hosting matches when oversea players come. Money minded guys.

But India would surely become a Pakistan if Lalit Modi or Sharad Pawar became the PM.

Cheers,
Posh

P.S. I'm back to blogging again as my boards have ended. Hope to see you guys read some of my articles again. :)