Delhi went to polls on May 7. And it was the best occasion for a journalist like me to tread the length and breadth of the city so as to get the ground-level information. And to add to the excitement, it was time for me to cast my vote.
My day began as early as 7 am, when the polling was scheduled to begin. Standing outside a poll booth, I was thinking that there won’t be any crowd so early in the morning. But I was wrong. Many of the morning walkers started pouring in as the clock ticked the exact time. They were the responsible citizens of Delhi who exercised their franchise in the wee hours.
I was surprised to see the crowd. Despite so many issues and problems, why were the people coming out to vote?
“See, there is no country without problems. But voting is our fundamental right and we should exercise it. If we do not vote, our country is not going to progress,” said P C Mahapatra, 36-year-old businessman from IP Extension area.
And it was not just the middle class of the society that was showing its interest in voting. The positive mood was evident in other segments also. “We should exercise our franchise; there is no excuse for that. But it should not be based on hearsay. Do what you have to do,” said Vinod Kumar, an auto driver.
I was feeling a sense of pride after listening to these words. Even after so much our country has gone through, people are still hopeful of change. Even the first-time voters like Abhinav, 21-year-old college student, do not feel let down by what has happened till now and feels that 'everyone should vote so as to give the country a better future'.
And their strong will resulted in a rise in polling percentage with about 53 per cent of Delhi voters exercising their right to vote.
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