Elections form the bedrock of any democracy in the world. Elections give power to the people and enable them to choose their leaders who make decisions on their behalf. Without elections, democracy cannot be based on the wishes and aspirations of the people.
Rather, it will turn into another form of government where decisions are made by one person or a group of persons based on their own selfish interests. Some important questions that puzzle researchers are as follows: What is so special about elections, even though they legitimise a system that ultimately fails the most vulnerable? Do elections mean anything more than a system of procedures and arrangements to elect politicians to power? Is there something about participating in them that makes the experience a special one unlike all other experiences in life? What do people think about elections and what do they get after exercising their right to vote? Why people consider elections as sacred and compare it with the weddings and religious festivals? These are the important questions that this book “Why India votes” tries to answer.
“Why India votes” by Mukulika Banerjee, is an important contribution to the debate over these questions. Banerjee is not a political scientist but she is an anthropologist.
Her methods are not statistical but ethnographic. Anthropologists have in the past studied and often wrote about Indian elections. But this is the first time that a well researched and coordinated study of this magnitude has been undertaken.
To provide answers to the question why India votes, Banerjee sent ethnographers with expertise to twelve fieldwork sites across India during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, and two in Uttar Pradesh.
The study has been divided into six (6) chapters followed byappendices. Each chapter has a descriptive narrative illustrated by examplesfrom several locations, with quotations from printed material, mobile phone texts,interviews and speeches, and so on. There are useful boxed summaries of thingslike ‘Elections and Music’ or events.
The introduction chapter analyses the faith of the Indian voters on the election process. The author argues that on the Election Day in India, everyday reality of inequality of wealth and status that dominate day to day life in the villages is suspended, and popular sovereignty is asserted for a day. Author highlights that political participation is a multidimensional rather than unitary phenomenon of viewing elections as only institutional arrangement. She especially highlights the working of Election Commission of India (ECI) during the elections.
The author points out that ECI is one of the main public institutions along with the judiciary and police that creates a level playing field for the electoral competition for political parties and independent candidates. The author quotes Bikhu Parekh who states that “elections, public deliberation and peaceful protest are the three main components of the democratic system.
Among them only elections have survived in good health because of fallen standard of public debate and degeneration of public protests into anger rather then disciplined campaign. The result is that burden of deliberation and protest has transferred in to the institution of elections alone”. The chapter ends with the argument that illiteracy and poverty are not the impediments to understanding the practice of voting in the Indian elections because people have developed a good understanding of the ideas of democracy and citizenship across India.
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Chapter 2nd titled “The Campaign” highlights the issues such as how political parties distribute the flags, pamphlets and posters during the election campaign and role of these materials in elections. The author highlights the role of paid news in shaping the voting behaviour of the electorate during the elections.
The author points out that, by providing extensive media coverage to the candidates of the political parties who pay highest sum of money to the media owners, political parties often tarnish the image of their rival parties and candidates in order to gain the support of the public. Banerjee particularly puts forth the importance for the candidate to being seen by the public.
She writes that good oratorical style and catchy words are essential ingredients for a memorable speech and candidates are working hard to nurture these skills during elections. Candidates often remain careful with their visual self presentation, paying close attention to the clothes they wear, the colours they choose etc. during the election campaign. These things play an important role in moulding the voting behaviour of the electorate during elections. She further writes that election campaigns in India are so important that during election time the entire nation appears to shift into another gear.
The chapter on “political languages” talks about the use of language by people during elections in different social settings. She argues that the local language of the people is more advanced than the language of intellectuals in capturing the people’s perceptions during the elections. She further writes that during the elections men outnumber women in public discussions regarding politics because of the patriarchal nature of the Indian society.
The author points that the lower castes like SC, ST and Dalits who are often forgotten by the successive governments before the elections, are used by the political parties for votes at the time of elections. The author argues that although caste based practices have declined across India but there has been an increase in caste based politics. She writes that in India people compare election with weddings because elections in India provide same excitement as the weddings do. People beat drums, dance in front of candidates like they do in front of bride and bridegroom on wedding day.
Fourth chapter titled “Polling Station” talks about the experience of people regarding casting vote. She writes that voting day is important for the people because people feel empowered, being able to vote on equal terms regardless of caste, class, gender and sex. People feel that it is the only day when lower caste people come into contact with the upper caste which otherwise is difficult in the caste ridden society like India.
The author contends that polling station is the only place where voter, political parties and the entire state of India come together in conducting the business of true democracy which otherwise is very difficult to be seen in India. The author highlights that voters see themselves as master of the voting day. Voters compare their vote with atom. Banerjee quotes the words of a dalit women who said that, “My vote is like an atom; it may be small but it packs a lot of power”.
Chapter 5th titled as “why people vote” is an important chapter where author depicts the true picture of electoral democracy of India. To answer the most important question why Indians vote, the author got variety of answers from the voters across India. Some vote for material benefit, many supported a candidate or party out of loyalty, many voted against someone as a mark of protest.
The author further explains that people in India vote because of peer pressure, many vote for being counted as citizen of the country, many think that it is important to vote in order to be recognised as equal citizen, while many others think that voting is a right and to exercise this right is important. The author highlights that different people have different opinions about why they vote.
There are many women who vote out of compulsion because if they will not they have to face the wrath of their husbands. Some vote because they think that they will get their work done in the government office with the help of the candidate whom they vote for. Many people exercise the right to vote because of making Indian democracy work.
The concluding chapter of the book highlights that elections emerge as one of the most important institutions in India that can mediate between the citizens and the state.
The author argues that elections play an important role in mediating the tension between the state and popular politics and acts as a pivot in the balance between the rule of law and the rule of numbers. The author reveals that elections are important for the people of India because voters think that it is better to choose the devil who governs them than having to suffer an autocrat.
Further she points out that in order to be a true genuine democracy need of the hour is to strengthen constitutional provisions of universal adult franchise and the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. The book depicts the true picture of how electoral democracy works in India.
It makes the people across India believe that participating in elections can bring egalitarianism and social change which other institutions so far have failed to ensure. The book investigates the motivations of voters, their thinking about politicians, political parties, the electoral process, democracy and their own role within it.
Mehraj ud Din Bhat is Assistant Professor, Political Science, at GDC Ganderbal