Click to play videoMumbai: The city gears up to vote and elect a new municipal corporation on Thursday. And nowhere is the class divide so apparent than in these polls.
While the lower middle class votes in large numbers, the voting presence of the middle and upper middle class is low.
“I don't think they work for us. They work for themselves. Only during the election time they come on the road, block traffic. I don't want to vote this time,” said Mihir Sanghvi, a voter.
“Even if we vote for a candidate, no work gets done,” said another voter Rita Daga.
Angry voices of the middle class Mumbaikar plagued by bad roads and poor water supply. But they choose to relax rather than vote out those responsible for this civic mess.
NGOs working to increase the voter count admit that most of the votes registered in the last election were from the lower middle class.
“We are trying at the middle class level, who normally do not vote. Not because of apathy but because they find none of the candidates are worth their vote. But this is the problem – unless we go out and vote we cannot expect good people to come forward,” said Trustee of NGO AGNI Sharad Kumar.
But what makes the local municipal elections so important to the lower middle class to come out and vote in large numbers as compared to the well to do sections of the society?
Year after year Colaba residents come out to vote for their corporator Vinod Shekhar. But in return they have also extracted their pound of flesh – concrete pavement blocks, community centre and a well-stocked gymnasium.
“Of course he has to do it. If we vote for him, it’s our responsibility to make him work for us,” said Sandeep Khamkar, a voter.
But this enthusiasm is missing in the richer residents of Colaba.
“Whenever I go to societies, I keep telling them that I have come here please tell me what your problems are, what you need…but you should come out and vote. Definitely much more needs to be done,” said candidate Vinod Shekhar.
Just a handful of votes decided the fate of 100 councilors in the last elections. Perhaps the middle class needs to come out of its slumber so that they too can put pressure on the corporators just as the lower middle class is doing.
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