Election notes
The much awaited election for the Tamil Nadu Assembly is over. But what has stood out, and rather discouragingly, is the low voter turnout in Chennai, which straightaway compels us to ask ourselves whether the cultural capital is electorally also the least sensitive. In fact, the current elections mirror the 2016 Assembly elections, where the pattern is much similar. While it could be due to systemic issues in some parts of the city, equally, it is the lack of responsibility and moral obligation on the part of the Chennaities, resulting in a poor polling percentage. And, the reason of the pandemic has only added to their lassitude. The attitude of ‘one individual vote will not change the results of an entire election’, and a reason cited by many preferring not to vote, is unfortunate. It is a pity that while Chennaities will turn in large numbers at a stadium to watch a cricket match for hours, they do not have the same kind of pride and passion when it comes to exercising their democratic rights.
R. Sivakumar,
Chennai
The highlight of the run-up to the election this time in Tamil Nadu was the raids and searches suddenly conducted on the premises of companies and palatial bungalows of the high and mighty. Thanks to television visuals, one was left bewildered.
What most of us want to know is what happens to the follow-up action, which does not see the light of day. The honest tax-payer is entitled to know the result even after the dust raised by the election frenzy has settled.
Mani Nataraajan,
Chennai
Termination and rights
I am shocked by the “complete non-application of mind”, to use the own words of the writers as far as their Editorial page article, “Abortion is a woman’s right to decide” (April 8), is concerned. Where does the human that is in the womb go for his or her rights?
I expect people who are pitching for ‘human’ rights to begin by treating all humans equally, and not have an absolute right of a woman trump that of another human.
Mathew Augustine,
Kochi
While the larger picture of the article is well taken, I disagree. The idea of a woman’s right over her own body seems not to end where the life of an unborn is hurt for anything less than the life of the woman. An act has to rise above such personalised thinking. Also, the act has to ensure that it does not open the floodgates to female foeticide.
Divyadeep Srivastava,
New Delhi
