One of the founding fathers of the United States of America, Alexander Hamilton, quoting Alcuin, an English scholar and theologian (‘Vox populi, vox Dei’ [voice of people, voice of God]) is reported to have said: “The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally this maxim is quoted and believed, it is not true in fact. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge and determine right…” This has relevance to how the nearly 98.68 crore citizens of India, eligible to exercise their franchise for the Lok Sabha elections in the coming two months, respond to the call of the Election Commission of India.

Nearly two crore young voters, or those between the ages of 18 and 29 would be first-time voters. Regardless of the outcome of the elections or the imperfections that might impact its conduct, the fact that a system has been created where some 100 crore people are going to determine who will represent them in the highest institution of governance is a tremendous collective achievement to be proud of. To gain a perspective on how significant this achievement is, we need only to look back at the state of affairs just a century ago. Until India’s independence in 1947, the voiceless masses were subjects of hundreds of maharajas and rajas and they in turn had to submit to the diktats of the European colonial powers.

Today a substantial portion of the world population has come a long way by electing those who are called to govern their respective countries. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that the electoral process has become discredited because of endemic corruption, contributing to........

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