What happened to my vote?

I was eagerly waiting for the election results. I was surprised to see UPA back to power and that too so convincingly. I had voted for BJP. I was dissappointed. I was wondering how people decide which party to vote. I got a chance to visit my grandfathers place recently. People in my village especially my family there were pretty happy with the election results even through BJP did very well in karnataka. They were hardcore congress supporters. I asked them what is the reason to support congress? Nobody was bothered about the work these politicians do. They are least aware of the govt policies as are most of the poeple in India. After discussing with a lot of people i found out the following. The elections are won using money. Each party has some representative in the village. The party members come to these people and give them money to distribute. The local party members go to each house in the village and distribute money. They have a copy of voters list. They know how many people in each family was eligible to vote and has an entry in the voters list. Each party has a rate for a vote. In my village it was as follows. BJP - 500 congress-200 and JDS- 150.  And most of the people voted for BJP as they paid more money. When i asked them why did they vote for money. They say that they know most of the politicians will make money and hardly anyone works. So at least in the election time they can earn some money. So one voter will earn about 850 in the election. Its a festival time for poor families who have many voters in the family. I heard that in some of the larger towns like Bellary in karnataka the votes cost 5000 per party. Imagine who much money would have been spent in the elections in the whole country.

I am not saying this is something new that i discovered. I knew this was happenning from long time. I do agree that money is given more in the rural areas than urban. Politicians are not bothers about urban voters as they hardly vote. They dont care about the educated voters as they know they are not their vote banks. Election days are holidays for us. When i went to vote i didnt even know who were the candidates in my region. But when i ask a person in my village, they very well know whom they are voting for. They know the name, caste and how much money he is giving. In some places money is replaced by local liquor or sarees for women. Its actually a very good time for voters. And opportunity for take some thing from politicians. 

Villagers very well know that in the time of elections, the farmers loan will be waived off. So they take up loans even when they dont require and wait for the govt to waive off. In one funny conversation one of my cousins who lives in a village in Andra pradesh told me people should not vote for Chandrababu Naidu(TDP). When i asked him why, he told that he is a strict person. If we dont pay the current bills, they would send the officials and arrest them. Congress gave free power to the villagers. I was wondering who did the right thing. Congress or TDP. 

I had been going to my village every year. I have seen some development in villages for sure. People are giving more importance to education. They want their kids to study in an english medium school. They are all proud of all the educated kids in the village. But govt schools are still in pathetic state. People dont prefer govt schools. Even they feel govt schools are not competitive. 

More land has come under irrigation. Standard of living has improved. But its mostly limited to people who have land. No change in the state of people who dont have their land. Untouchability still exists. It is quite prevelent in the villages. One thing which i was surprised to see was the mobile phones. Many people can afford mobile phones now. Roads have improved but once built, they are hardly repaired. They are laid once in 6 years. Contracters use very low quality construction material and eat their share of money. People are so used to corruption that they dont object giving or taking money. Some people tell me that i should join govt service so that i can make more money undertable. One important thing that is missing medical facility. There are hardly any medical facilities in the villages. Not a single Mbbs doctor in the village. And the second important thing is electricity, why should villages have more power cuts i dont understand. Power keeps going. Of course there is no drainage system.

So the question is did my voting made any difference? Even if people i voted for win the election, i dont think it would have made a huge difference. There might be 30% good people in politics. We need 80% to make any significant changes. I dont know how tough is it to develop villages. Simple things which they are not able to implement elections after elections. Firstly, every house should have drinking water supply. Secondly, there should be a hospital in a village with at least 2 doctors. 2 doctors for 3 thousand people in a village is not a big ask. Thirdly, they should have uninterrupted power supply or at least as much as urban people get. Fourthly, roads should be constructed and repaired regularly.And lastly a drainage system. Thats all people ask for. Thats the minimum quality of life they expect. I have seen political parties making promises and stuff. But in the past 20 years, where i can see significant changes in the urban areas, i see hardly 5 percent change in the villages. I am not sure what superpower status means when people dont have minimum things needed in life.