I want to vote..

the (dumb, idiotic and very much eunuch-y) Congress-I government out of power. I found this resolve getting more and more steely with every passing hour last two days. Alternative? BJP? JD? I don't know. Not the Congress. Not this time. Since we do not have the luxury of an iconic leader, if we have to settle for less worse alternatives, so be it. But I can't bear to see these eunuchs running this country.

But can I vote? Subhash and I were brainstorming this morning. We are not in the voter-lists here in Bangalore. Neither are we in Hyd. We have just been away so long that our names have gone off the list (well, his parents' names went off the list even while they were very much here, so ours is a case to not even consider). Anyways, I want to vote. Can I vote please?

Apparently not. I have to be in the "Voter's list". Which was developed to prevent fraud. But no thought being spared for working professionals who might not be home while the friendly-neighborhood Election Commission (EC) officers stop by. One of my colleagues actually could not vote in spite of having a voters ID because her name was not in the "list".

I ask, why can I not vote if I present my very much valid Indian Passport at the booth? What else do I need to prove that I am an Indian citizen? Fine, you want to prevent me from using the passport again and again? Just like we have the black mark, go on and stamp my passport saying I have already voted. Done. Right?

Of course I can have fraudulent passports and vote multiple times, but hey, passport fraud is an even worse danger than voting fraud. You better check that before you try to check voting fraud.

But then Subhash says, you have to vote in your constituency and your constituency only. Please, can we not make that irrelevant for the national elections? Can we please find a way where I can vote no matter where as long as I vote just once.

For us to apply for a voter ID now, we need to have residence proof, since we are renting our place now and will move into our new house soon, we can vote neither here nor there :( We cannot register there now (since we don't live there now) and we cannot vote here then (since we won't be living here anymore). Maybe we can still take the second route since I think on election day no one checks to see if you are still living at the same address. Good. But hey, what about getting into the voters list?

I've heard people being removed from the list simply because they were not home when the EC officials came by. And then even if you have your Voters ID, its useless trying to tell that to the polling booth officials. Happened to both Subhash's parents and some colleagues. So? At least tell me when you will stop by and I will make sure I am home to give my name and enter this list.

I am trying the www.jagore.com route. Lets see how much success I have.