The Philosophy:
- Democracy is best understood as ‘Government of the people, by the people and for the people’. In practice, Democracy as it exists, falls short of expectation. There is great scope for further improvement of Democracy by putting in place the processes of Initiative and Referendum. This will create opportunities for the citizen to express himself/herself in matters of governance on a continuous basis.
- Initiative and Referendum are processes being successfully practiced in Switzerland at the macro-level. Based on the same principle, two types of polls can be conducted at the micro-level:
- [a] the poll conducted on an Initiative (an existing problem brought to notice by a citizen regarding his/her constituency with the suggested remedy).
- [b] the poll conducted on a Referendum (the question raised by a citizen regarding a measure brought into force by the govt. of the day).
- The results of these polls pertaining to a constituency with their approval ratings will serve as a channel of expression for the views of the people as well as a resource for candidates contesting in any ensuing election in that constituency.