Karnataka election 2018: Voting gives citizens rare sense of empowerment

Elections in India are like its festivals. When one gets over, another is round the corner! At one level, elections are a celebration of the ‘fact of democracy’. At another level, it is an important identity that transforms an ordinary individual into an empowered citizen. Indian elections have witnessed reasonably high voter turnout compared to western democracies.Also, voter turnout is far higher in a state assembly election compared to a Lok Sabha election.
What explains this heightened excitement about elections, especially in rural India? Several factors seem to contribute to the celebration of this ‘festival’ of democracy. Elections are that one visible ‘window’ of Indian democracy that is wide open. This has often made people wonder whether India is an ‘Election Only’ democracy. The country now holds reasonably free and fair elections and voters exercise their franchise with a level of secrecy, independence and autonomy that is rarely seen in other domains. It could also be argued that voting is that one moment at which a citizen experiences a rare sense of empowerment of participating in choosing an elected representative, possibly even deciding which party will govern.
One also notices a heightened sense of involvement in the voting process among the less socially and economically privileged. Those who vote in larger numbers often represent those whose welfare and wellbeing is closely linked to government policy. Thus, that important ‘act of voting’, signifies an active involvement in decision making relating to their future.
In 1999, while conducting a survey during the Lok Sabha elections, a student of mine returned with an interesting experience. She had reached a village on a day of voting and at 8am, she was shocked to see a long line of people waiting to vote.
Having grown up in a city, she had never seen people lining up in such large numbers to vote. She spotted a middle-aged woman in that line and decided to interview her after she had voted. Approaching the woman, the student asked her who she voted for. The woman nonchalantly replied, ‘I do not know’ (she meant she did not know the name, but voted for the symbol).
My student then asked her, ‘Will voting make any difference to your life’? The woman again replied, ‘No, it will make no difference’. ‘Why then did you stand for more than half-an-hour to vote’, the student asked? The woman looked at my student and asked her whether she knew who was standing behind her in the queue.
When my student replied in the negative, she said the richest landlord of the village was behind her. Behind him, she said, was the priest of the only temple in the village and behind him was the labour contractor who hired her as a daily-wage labourer. My student was confused. The woman then asked my student, ‘Child, is there any other line in this country when I can do my job before all these people can do their job? It is only on Election Day, if I come early, I stand ahead of all these people’. My student realized that elections are not primarily about voting, but a fundamental social transformation. This, perhaps, explains the excitement around elections.
(The author is pro vice-chancellor, Jain University)