How much for your vote?

*Disclaimer: we are fully aware that some of these things happen in the US to differing degrees. We just found it interesting that one discussion at work yielded so many stories!

This past Sunday, the city of Bangalore held its municipal elections. Voters were to elect a city council of over 100 members to serve 8 million Bangaloreans. When the newspaper came out Monday morning, officials were embarrassed to report that there was only 44% voter turn out (compared to 70%+ for national elections in this region). Shae’s informal poll at work of about 20 coworkers revealed that only 4-6 of them had voted. (Another newspaper article did indicate that the more educated you are, the less likely you are to vote.)

Here are a few anecdotes from his colleagues:

One team member related that half of his apartment building was required to go to one polling station and the other half of the building had to go to another polling station. He and his wife went to both polling stations, and despite having lived in Bangalore for 8+ years, were not registered at either location and therefore were unable to vote.

My personal favorite: Another team member arrived at the polling station, only to find out that apparently she had already voted and was therefore unable to vote (reported as a common issue here!).

A third team member went to the polling station and saw that 5 other people were registered to his address, although he lives alone in a studio apartment.

A fourth team member related that the day prior to the election, the sitting councilman came by her apartment complex asking everyone to vote and it was the first time he had even been seen in that area during his 5 year term.

A fifth team member recounted that his elected councilman had given one of his properties (worth the equivalent of $500,000 in the US) to the ruling party to purchase his seat. This wasn’t a real hardship because he was certain to make 20-40 times that amount over his time in office.

The discussion also revealed that most infrastructure projects are ill-designed or ill-placed due to the fact that a large percentage of the contract is a kick-back to the local councilman.

Our driver and maid both reported that on the outskirts of the city and in more rural areas, the ruling party offered bribes of 500 Rupees ($11 USD) AND a saree for women or a shirt/lunghi for men per vote!

As we sweated through the steamy Bangalore night without AC (was 85 degrees in the kids' room), we found it interesting to read the next morning that the 23/7 power (yes, twenty-three) promised by the governor (chief minister, also a member of the ruling party in Bangalore) failed repeatedly the night after the election. Of course, this was purportedly due to “a failed generator” somewhere at one of the main power plants.

Officials still embarrassed by the low voter turn out, sprung into action introducing legislation to make voting compulsory for all municipal elections. One of the penalties suggested was the loss of your driver’s license, which is slightly ironic because only about 50% of drivers here have a license. The fine for not having one is less than $10 USD. In a moment of sanity, the chief minister issued a request for more research as to the low turn out, especially among the educated. Can you think of any reason they might not want to vote? :)