Nerve Endings Firing Away

Undecided voters skewing the polls? At least in the UK, voters who are lazy enough to take an active interest in the political issues yet do not want to vote by the Enee Meeny Mynah Moo strategy can log on to The Public Whip website. The website documents how individual MPs vote, together with who voted which way on the most significant issues in parliament. By offering your preferences on the issues the candidates have voted for, you obtain a score as to which party is closest to your own personal ideology. Of course, this system may be unfairly skewed against newbie politicians who haven’t got a chance to vote in the previous session.

For example, this by-election for Crewe and Nantwich on May 22, 2008 lists the 14 issues that the candidates have voted for [via]. Each issue has related newspaper stories so that you can read up more if interested. Further, it breaks down each issue by MPs who have voted in favor or against it and list them by their party affiliation. Definitely, a useful service that seeks to bridge the information gap for busy voters who haven’t had the time to appraise themselves of the pertinent issues. Any project that makes the MPs more accountable and presents a clear picture of their actions in the Parliament is a welcome service to the voters.

Don’t you think such a service would be useful for the Indian Parliament as well?