New Delhi, Jan 14 (UNI) Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi today said the notion that voter is "King for a day" is a myth as political parties make their own selected candidates jump in fray in elections and electors have to make a choice out of them. Addressing a gathering at Constitution club here, he said,' Voters have no choice but to select candidates out of the projected candidates chosen by the political outfits therefore, voter is not "King for a day". 'The political parties make promises during elections in rallies and functions to lure voters but after getting votes and coming to power conveniently forgets about voters' woes, and their electoral promises. Therefore though the voter can make or break but is actually choiceless as far as voting for party candidates is concerned' he said. 'India is a multi cultural and multi pluralistic society where diversity is its distinguished feature. Holding elections in such a big country is a mammoth exercise and our initiative is being hailed worldwide. But what the country needs today after 69 years of independence is 'political and electoral reforms'. Unfortunately, at preset no consensus is being formed in the country to bring about these reforms to cleanse the system of corruption and fraud. But Election Commission has brought many reforms on its own to conduct free and fair elections in the country. Malpractices like booth capturing, kidnapping of rival party candidates and murders of those contesting have virtually stopped as a result of EC's measures. The belief that EC is toothless is also wrong because EC has the power to enforce 'Model code of conduct" under which violators are punished, FIRs registered against them and they are debarred from contesting polls. Moreover, politicians observing indiscipline are shamed in society by registering cases against them therefore EC exercises its power and is a tool to 'deter' cheaters', Mr Quraishi observed. Mr Quraishi also observed that "voter education" is very important to educate and make electors aware that their vote is very crucial and each and every vote counts in polls. One vote can make or break the future of candidates. Youths who are the future of the nation particularly need to be told the significance of their votes. The young generation doesn't vote probably because of three reasons- They don't know that that the franchise age is 18 years, they are not aware of the procedure and the belief that all politicians are "Bad". 'But he said the nation is on the cusp of being a superpower because of the political leadership of the country and their this belief needs to be shattered. Youths need to be shown the way and included in the voting arena', the former officer said. He also said the EC invented many innovative and novel ideas to attract voters and one such idea was starting a campaign called "Pappu campaign". Those who wont vote will come in the category of Pappu and will be ridiculed. It was a 'Lampooning " idea to force electors to turn towards polling booths. MORE UNI SY SHK 2037