political empowerment in india
... and every citizen of the country has the responsibility of choosing a responsible and functioning government. At the same time this system of parliamentary democracy gives a sense of power to the citizens. India has a parliamentary form of government based on universal adult franchise. The executive authority is responsible to the elected representatives of the people in the Parliament for all its decisions and actions. Sovereignty rests ultimately with the people. The Universal Adult Franchise ensures equal voting rights for all the adult citizens. The adult citizens are the citizens of age 18 or more. All these citizens have equal right to vote in the electing their representatives for the Parliament or the Legislature. Over 70% countries of the world follow Universal Adult Franchise, and this emphasizes its importance in providing political empowerment to the citizens. No nation can stand proud if it discriminates against any of its citizens. In the actual setting up of the representative institutions in a democracy, this principle is the assertion and affirmation of the principles of liberty and equality of all citizens, irrespective of their caste, creed, sex, domicile, educational level and property status. Universal Adult Franchise ensures mass participation in the political decision-making process for electing representatives.This ensures the constitution of a democratic government. Indian democracy is representative democracy. The sheer size of the new nation made direct democracy impossible. But how could an indirect democracy (through representatives) preempt the problem of keeping the needs of the people ahead of the desires and ambitions of the representatives? Here comes the logic of holding regular, free, competitive elections. Elections work to ameliorate this problem: – Ordinary people have a say – The electoral connection-must be responsive – Incentive for oversight-office holders always being watched by those who would replace them. This gives leaders a reason to care about people’s interests, opinions, and values. This gives the people power to look after their rights and interests. This way they can make their opinion to be heard by a larger section. Each elected representative represents all the people of the region from where he is elected. He is responsible for hearing the issues and suggestions of those people and presents them in front of the government or work on them for the benefits of the voters. The 73rd amendment to India’s constitution mandates that responsibili...