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The original was posted on /r/india by /u/Mundane_Fishing9044 on 2025-12-12 12:11:56+00:00.
I keep seeing a strange pattern in political discussions:
People openly say they are frustrated with BJP’s performance, yet they still vote for them because “Congress is worse” or “We are old enough to remember Congress rule.” This basically means we are not voting for improvement, we are voting out of fear of the alternative. And that makes me wonder, isn’t the real problem our political structure? If in a 75-year-old democracy the only national alternative during anti-incumbency is still Congress, isn’t that proof that the system itself is flawed?
Political reforms and bills should have been passed to promote parties which can do some good work, listen to the middle class problems, and play the role as an effective opposition, and be capable and powerful enough to throw the government out of power for their poor performance. People who give such arguments often complain about us giving vote to congress. Then I want to ask them, don’t you think that the system is flawed if parties like congress becomes the alternative in anti-incumbency sentiments? If politicians really cared about the country, then they should have done reforms and passed bills removing parties like congress from politics so that it can give room for new parties to take the center stage and throw parties like bjp out of power and it can lead to healthy democracy and robust opposition.
People say “Don’t vote for Congress, they messed up for decades.” But if voters genuinely feel Congress is the only other option, then isn’t that a failure of political competition? Shouldn’t the system encourage new, competent, issue-focused parties that can challenge the ruling party and represent middle-class concerns?
In a healthy democracy, governments fear losing power because alternatives are strong, opposition parties are capable and effective, new parties can rise and gain national relevance, voters aren’t stuck choosing the “lesser evil”.
But in India, the structure of electoral funding, media dominance, and first-past-the-post voting makes it incredibly hard for any new party to become a national force.
Some people argue: “But Congress is useless, stop voting for them.” My counter-question is: If a weak Congress is the only fallback option, doesn’t that show that our democratic system needs reforms rather than just blaming voters?
What are your opinions on this?