SUBMITTED BY: MAHA SABIR ROLL NO: 24 CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION COURSE INSTRUCTOR: SIR MUSTAFA HAIDER

CLASS: MPA (FINAL)

TOPIC; DISCUSS:
WHAT WILL BE THE SOLUTION OF IMBALANCE WORTH OF VOTES IN THE CURRENT VOTING SYSTEM OF COUNTRY? SHOULD A MORE MATURE CITIZEN BE GRANTED MORE VOTING POWER THEN THE LESS MATURED ONES?

It is being a past practice in Pakistan that the voting system has never been considered fair and transparent. They have always been the target of unfair and unjust victory of any party who has the power and resources to buy and manipulate people minds. The reason being that the Pakistans literacy rate is just over 45% including those who dont have any education b ut only know to read and write their names while the rest of the population even cant do this. They dont have enough education and awareness on who to vote. They cast their votes under the pressures of political individuals in their areas or community who force them to vote against their wills. So while considering this side of a picture we have a number of issues that has to be eradicated in order to bring and hold transparent and fair elections. First I will highlight some of the issues which I think are most appropriate and are the root cause of creating imbalance in the system 1) The literate locality mostly doesnt like to go election booths to cast their votes. 2) Most of the times the literate persons vote has already been casted by someone else. 3) In election booths, political individuals are already present to pressurize the voters to vote their party which make a person unsatisfied, as vote against their will. So after highlighting some of these issues I thought of these solutions as to be adopted without changing any ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM (condition of the assignment) Some of the solutions are: 1) The first I found to be very help is; to introduce overseas Pakistanis who live outside the country to cast their votes and who want to do so but are unable as they dont have any such right . As the literate people in Pakistan are only of 45% with the minimum education, it will be a good step to welcome overseas Pakistanis as well it will increase the chance of getting a right person in power. It is therefore, a good step to have election polls at the Pakistani embassies in foreign countries. 2) Another would be, before starting the polls, the election campaign has to be designed in which the candidates must represent themselves and debate with their opponent and discuss about the core national issues and the future motives which will give awareness to the public and can drive them to vote for the right candidate. And this activity should given coverage by the local media.

3) Thirdly, allowing people to vote for either candidates or a party to represent them. It will make people more satisfied as if they dont know much about the candidates or if they think both are good enough to be voted. This option will also help to develop a curiosity among the voters to know about each candidate and find the better person for them. 4) Last but the most important for all is the EDUCATION. As it is being said: Education

makes a people easy to lead but difficult to drive: easy to govern, but impossible to enslave. The reason to pick this quotation is that in our country
Pakistan we have many who are illiterate and majority living in the rural areas under the feudalist and Jageerdaars systems based on false beliefs and following obsolete customs and traditions. Only, if people in such areas are given a minimum education of 12 years, they will definitely be able to know what is right and what is wrong for them as Education helps people to come out of slavery. It cant be denied that education enhances the maturity of a person to a large extent where he is able to be a good decision maker. He will be able to cast the right vote of what he thinks better.
Everyone has a right to vote and no one have an authority to steal this right from any citizen of a country. But is more of the responsibility of the people as well to cast their votes in the election so that no other person can steal your vote neither your vote casted for a wrong person. Obviously this has other negative trade-offs too. The negative side of picture always remains for the betterment and improvement to change but we believe that, on balance, positive things leads the best way to go. When all factors, like legitimacy; effectiveness and stability of government; representation; accountability; and the need for opposition and oversight are taken into account, we believe that equal right to vote for each and every citizen, transparency in vote counting, no discrimination of giving more power to mature citizens but progress be made to increase the political maturity among the people by education or awareness campaigns and fair means of election strikes the best balance to strengthen the democracy in the country.

By Changing Nothing, Nothing Changes By Changing Something, Everything Changes.