The Counting Begins!

Cast my vote today and am proud of it!

Must-Knows of this election

These facts you can't afford to ignore during this election!!

1. Candidates of your consitituency :

http://www.elections.tn.gov.in/ECI/Affidavits/S22/GE/PCList.htm

2. The Polling Stations in your constituency :

http://www.elections.tn.nic.in/psmain.htm

3. Electronic voting machine :

An Electronic Voting Machine consists of two Units - a Control Unit and a Balloting Unit - joined by a five-meter cable. The Control Unit is with the Presiding Officer or a Polling Officer and the Balloting Unit is placed inside the voting compartment. Instead of issuing a ballot paper, the Polling Officer in-charge of the Control Unit will press the Ballot Button. This will enable the voter to cast his vote by pressing the blue button on the Balloting Unit against the candidate and symbol of his choice.

As soon as the voter presses the `blue button' against the candidate and symbol of his choice, a tiny lamp on the left side of the symbol glows red and simultaneously a long beep sound is heard. Thus, there is both audio and visual indications for the voter to be assured that his vote has been recorded.

As soon as a particular button on the Balloting Unit is pressed, the vote is recorded for that particular candidate and the machine gets locked. Even if one presses that button further or any other button, no further vote will be recorded. This way the EVMs ensure the principle of "one man, one vote".

EVMs work on a 6-volt battery and there is absolutely no chance of any voter getting an electric shock at the time of pressing the `blue button' or at any time of handling the balloting unit. (There are rumors that people can get electrocuted using it.)

4. Other tips :

1. Be an early bird to the polling booths.That way you can escape the scorching sun and the throttling crowds :) [All polling booths work from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm ]

2. Take your voter id card and your door slip with you.

3. Take your time in the booth,remember you can press that button only once.

4. Lastly,flaunt the voter mark they make in your finger :) [Its become a fashion statement now.]

See ya then,all geared up for the big day :)

Party alliances in Tamil Nadu (Pre - Poll)

Elections are here!!The D-day is nearing!I'm thoroughly excited:)[Hope u are just as enthusiastic as me to cast your vote.]

Tamil Nadu has a total of 39 constituencies with an approximate of 62,405,679 voters!(oomph!) As anyone can guess,thus Tamil nadu has a very strong influence on the make up of our government at the centre.This state not only has a large number of constituencies,it has an even larger number of parties!( It sure is a plate full to me,understanding these parties!Hope I've simplified it for you.Read on.)

Tamilians are known for traditionally electing either one of the two major parties AIADMK and DMK alternatively to power.This time,DMDK led by actor turned politician Mr.Vijayakanth decided to face the battle alone.So,Tamilians have a new front now. [Though the word is,DMDK will not win many seats.But you never know till the last ball is bowled right!(After all,we live in India) everything happens here!] DMDK sure has stirred the pot here in TN,though.

Today's politics is all about alliances.Take a look at the Pre - Poll alliances in TN.

Parties with AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munettra Kazhagam) led by Miss.Jayalalitha are

1.PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchi)
led by Dr.S.Ramadoss with 6 Lok Sabha seats.

2.CPI (Communist Party of India)
led by Mr.D.Pandian in TN with 3 Lok Sabha seats.

3.MDMK (Marumalarchi Dravida Munettra Kazhagam)
led by Mr.Vaiko with 4 Lok Sabha seats.

4.CPI-M (Communist Party of India - Marxist)
with 3 Lok Sabha seats.

That leaves AIADMK with 23 Lok Sabha seats.


Parties with DMK ( Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ) led by Mr.Karunanidhi are

1.Congress
led by Mrs.Sonia Gandhi with 15 Lok Sabha seats.

2.Muslim League
led by Dr.M.H.Jawahirullah in TN with 1 Lok Sabha seat.

3.VCK (Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi)
led by Mr.Thol Thirumavalavan with 2 Lok Sabha seats.

That leaves DMK with 21 Lok Sabha seats.


As said earlier DMDK (Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam) led by Captian (as Mr.Vijayakanth is known here) has decided to stand alone with all the 39 Lok Sabha seats.


Parties with BJP (Bharathiya Janata dal Party) led by Mr.L.K.Advani

1.AISMK
led by the actor turned politician Mr.Sarath Kumar with 3 Lok Sabha seats.

2.NMK
led by actor turned politician Mr.Karthik with 2 Lok Sabha seats.

3.PT (Puthiya Tamilagam)
led by Dr.K.K.Krishnasamy with 1 Lok Sabha seat.

BJP is contesting for only 12 Lok Sabha seats in TN.(It does not have a strong hold in this part of the country.)

NOTE : The above said facts pertains only to Tamil Nadu.

ELECTIONS

Its election season here at home and election news is rampant!!!You hear BJP this,Congress that and the like news left right and centre everyday,in fact every hour!!But where does that leave me and lots of other people like me who have no clue about Indian politics!!I don't know a word [well,I didn't know a word till before my research for this post] about Lok Sabha itself then how the hell will I ever understand what all these news channels are getting at?So wid a lil help from my dad [he's into this stuff big time!] I've decided to help the people out there like me.Go on guys dig in,it sure will help:)

INDIAN PARLIAMENT :

It is a bicameral one with two houses,the Rajya Sabha or the Upper House and the Lok Sabha or the Lower House.Any bill can become an act only after it is passed by both the houses and assented by the President.

LOK SABHA :

It is also known as the " House of the people ".Almost all of its members are directly elected by the citizens of India.It is more powerful of the two houses and can precede or overrule the Rajya Sabha (upper house) in certain matters.

COMPOSITION :

The Lok Sabha can have up to 552 members as envisaged in the constitution of India.Up to 530 members can be elected from the states,20 from the union territories and no more than 2 can be nominated by the President [from the Anglo-Indian community if the President feels its not adequately represented in the House.]

RESERVATIONS :

79 seats are reserved for the Schedule Caste community and 41 seats are being reserved for the Schedule Tribe community.

CONSTITUENCY :

Population is the basis of allocation of seats to each state.There are 543 parliamentary constituencies in India,demarcated by the delimitation committee based on the census data of the year 2001.These constituencies are drawn to make sure,that there are,as near as practicable,the same number of people in each of them.Each constituency elects one member [MP,Member of Parliament] into the Lower House.For the list of constituencies....

TERM :

The Lok Sabha has a term of 5 years,currently elections are being held for the 15th Lok Sabha as the term of the Sabha formed in 2004 expires on 1,June,2009.Although the President can dissolve Lok Sabha and call a general election before five years is up, if the government can no longer command the confidence of the Lok Sabha, and if there is no alternative government available to take over.

CONTESTANTS :

Any Indian citizen who is registered as a voter and is over 25 years of age is allowed to contest elections to the Lok Sabha.There are catches to this though,as per Section 8 (3) of R. P. Act, 1951, if a person is convicted of any offence and sentenced to an imprisonment of 2 years or more, this will be disqualification to contest elections.Even if is a person is on bail, after the conviction and his appeal is pending for disposal, he is disqualified from contesting an election as per the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India.

WHO CAN VOTE :

Any citizen over the age of 18 can vote in an election (before 1989 the age limit was 21). The right to vote is irrespective of caste, creed, religion or gender. Those who are deemed unsound of mind, and people convicted of certain criminal offences are not allowed to vote.

POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS :

Political parties are an established part of modern mass democracy, and the conduct of elections in India is largely dependent on the behaviour of political parties. Although many candidates for Indian elections are independent, the winning candidates for Lok Sabha elections usually stand as members of political parties, and opinion polls suggest that people tend to vote for a party rather than a particular candidate.If a political party is recognised in four or more states, it is considered as a National Party.

That was tha basic!I will come back with more stuff about the parties,their manifestos,alliances etc....HOPING TO QUENCH YOUR THIRST!!

MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!

Have you,as an Indian ever complained about...

1.The throttling traffic-jams.
2.Always raising prices of everything around.
3.The mountains of garbage on the roadsides.
4.The million strikes happening all around.
5.The arrogance of government officials.

Then its time you stop complaining and TAKE CHARGE!!

India is the largest democracy in the world.As almost all of us know 'A democracy is the government for the people and by the people.' Is that not so!!!But let me tell you wat is happening in India now...'This democracy is being made a government for a few devious politicians and by those devious politicians!!!'

What caused this change?Our constitution was not planned this way by Dr.Ambedkar or Mr.Nehru or our Father,Mahatma Ghandhi.Then how did this happen?What went wrong down the years?

I'll tell you.Its not the officials or the politicians,its us the so called 'educated lot' who led to this change.Its us the callous,lazy,self centered fools (I'm sorry,if you cant see what the democracy can actually do to your life and excersice it,then it fits to call you a fool!)We very well educated citizens of India either think all this political drama is for the ruffians,the poor and the uneducated,or are caught up in our high paying jobs in the multi-national companies to go out and cast our vote.

The result - Some rich fat politician pays his way into buying all of our uncast votes!!Remember the way he got rich actually is by looting all of our taxes,which rightfully belongs to us!Now this is a big joke- 'He/She uses our money,illegally steals our votes,only to come back to power and loot more of our money.'

And what do we do about it - COMPLAIN!!Is that all we can do?No,definitely no.We can VOTE! (I really do hope this strikes a cord for all Indians of voting age reading this.)

Lets take a step towards change.Lets cast our vote.Lets speak up.After all,democracy is all about you running your government!!

P.S. - A word for all Indians who don't vote in this 2009 elections "You are the ones ruining India!"Remember,this big,beautiful,free country is what it is today because of our leaders 50 years before,and it will be what it is 50 years down the line because of you!!





LETS PROVE THEM WRONG THIS TIME!!