Associations of senior citizens threaten to tell their 1 crore members to exercise NOTA option if their demands are unmet.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in
Though they are not considered to be a part of mainstream society – and hence, there are not many policies implemented or infrastructure devised to suit their needs – but when one thinks about it, senior citizens form a considerable part of the country’s population.
And if this population decides to hit back at the Government, there is the potential to do some serious harm.
Keeping this in mind, the office bearers of several notable senior citizen associations in the country recently met to press for long-pending demands. All India Senior Citizens Confederation (AISCCON), Federation of Senior Citizens Confederation of Maharashtra (FESCOM), Association of Senior Citizens Organisation of Pune (ASCOP), HelpAge India and the International Longevity Centre (ILC) were a part of the meeting.
“Seeing the apathy of the Government with regard to senior citizens’ issues, especially, with reference to the changing of the age definition of senior citizens from 60 to 65 years, a resolution was passed at this meeting. It was decided that 10 per cent of seniors would use the NOTA option for voting this election if their demand to lower this age limit is not met at the earliest,” said Anjali Raje, Executive Director, ILC.
She added, “When we realise that 10 per cent of the total population translates in to nearly 20 per cent of the voting population, this makes a big difference and when this big vote bank does not vote for any particular party, but uses the NOTA option, then the [political] parties would be the ones impacted.”