DETERMINANTS OF VOTING BEHAVIOUR IN INDIA

Dr. Jiwan Devi

Assistant Professor in Political Science

HRMMV, Jalandhar

Paper- BA Sem-IVPolitical Science

INTRODUCTION

• Voting behaviour, also known as electoral behaviour, involves understanding the factors and reasons which influence voting patterns.
• The Voting Behaviour involves an analysis of individual psychological make-up and their relation to political action as well as institutional patterns, such as the communication process and their impact on elections.

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• Significance of Voting Behaviour the scientific study which deals with voting behaviour is known as Psephology. The recorded history of voting goes back to the Greek city-states of classical antiquity.
• India is a constitutional democracy with a parliamentary system of government and at the heart of the system is a commitment to hold regular, free and fair elections at all the three levels (National, State and Local level).

• Voting is one of the most commonly used terms in contemporary age of democratic politics as it shows a formal expression of an individual's choice for or against a certain candidate or political party during the elections.
• In a limited way, voting refers to the function of electing representatives by casting votes in elections. Frequent and highly competitive elections based on universal adult franchise have become the hallmark of Indian Democracy- the largest of the world.

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DEFINATION

According to Gordon Marshall- 

“The study of voting behaviour invariably focuses on the determinants of why people tend to vote in public elections as they do and how they arrive at the decisions they make”

SIGNIFICANT OF VOTING BEHAVIOUR

• It helps in comprehending the process of political socialization
• It helps in examining the internalization of democracy as a value among the elites as well as masses.
• It emphasizes the real impact of the revolutionary ballot box
• It enables to throw light as to how far the electoral politics continue or break with the past
• It helps to measure whether it is modern or primordial in the context of political development

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CASTE FACTOR

•  Caste is an important factor influencing the behavior of voters.
• Politicization of caste and castes in politics have been a feature of Indian politics.
• While formulating their election strategies political parties account the factor of caste.
• Large and important castes in a constituency tend to back either a respected member of their case or a political party with whom their caste identifies.

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RELIGION FACTOR

•  Religion is another significant factor which influences electoral behavior.
• Political parties indulge in communal propaganda and exploit the religious sentiments of the voters.
• The existence of various communal parties has further added to the politicization of religion.
• Despite India being a secular nation, no political party ignores the influence of religion in electoral politics.

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LANGUAGE FACTOR

•  Linguistic considerations of the people influence their voting behaviour.
• During elections, the political parties arouse the linguistic feelings of the people and try to influence their decision-making.
• The reorganisation of states (in 1956 and later) on language basis clearly reflects the significance of language factor in India politics.
• The rise of DMK in Tamil Nadu and TDP in Andhra Pradesh can be attributed to linguism.

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REGION FACTOR

• Regionalism and sub-regionalism play an important role in voting behaviour.
• These parochial feelings of sub-nationalism led to the emergence of perpetual regional parties in various states.
• These regional parties appeal to the electorate on the ground of regional identities and regional sentiments. Sometimes, the secessionist parties call for the boycott of elections.

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PERSONALITY FACTOR

•  The charismatic personality of the party leader plays an important role in electoral behavior.
• Thus, the towering image of Jawaharlal Nehru (Born on November 14, 1889), Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Naredra Modi had significantly influenced the electorate to vote in favour of their parties.
• At the state-level also , the charismatic personality of the regional party leader has been a significant factor of popular support in the elections.

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MONEY FACTOR

•  The role of the money factor cannot be overlooked in explaining the voting behaviour.
• Despite the limitations on the election expenditures, crores of rupees are spent on elections.
• The voters seek money or liquor or goods in return for their votes.
• In other words, ‘votes’ are freely exchanged for ‘notes’. However, money can influence the decisions of the in the normal circumstances and not in a wave election

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PERFORMANCE OF THE RULING PARTY

• On the eve of elections, every political party releases its election manifesto containing the promises made by it to the electorate.
• The performance of the ruling party is judged by the electorate on the basis of its election manifesto.
• The defeat of Congress Party in 1977 elections and that of Janata party in 1980 elections illustrates that the performance of the ruling party influences voting behaviour.
• Thus the anti-incumbency factor (which means dissatisfaction with the performance of the ruling party) is a determinant of electoral behaviour.

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PARTY IDENTIFICATION

•  Personal and emotional association with political parties play a role in determining voting behavior.
• People who identify themselves with a particular party will always vote for that party irrespective of its omissions and commissions.
• Party identification was especially strong in the 1950s and 1960s.
• However since the 1970s, there has been a decline in the number of strong party identifiers.

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IDEOLOGY FACTOR

• The political ideology professed by a political party has a bearing on the decision making of the voters.
• Some people in the society are committed to certain ideologies like communalism, capitalism, democracy, secularism, decentralization and so on.
• Such people support the candidates put up by the parties that profess those ideologies.

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• Elections occupy a prominent place in the democratic government. It is a means through which people
• express and enforce their political opinion and regulate political organization of the society. However the
• behaviour of a voter is influence by several factors such as religion, caste, community, language, money, policy
• or ideology, purpose of the polls, extent of franchise and the like political parties and groups make use of these
• variables for the sake of winning the battle of the ballot box.

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OTHER FACTOR

• In addition to the above explained factors, there are also various other factors, which determine the voting behaviour of th
• Economic conditions at the time of election like inflation, food, short age, unemployment etc.
• Factionalism – a feature of Indian politics from bottom to top levels
• Age – old or young
• Sex – men or women

• Education – educated or uneducated
• Habitation – rural or urban
• Class (income) – rich or poor
• Family and kinship
• Candidate orientation
• Election campaign
• Political family background

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CONCLUSION

• Elections occupy a prominent place in the democratic government.
• It is a means through which people express and enforce their political opinion and regulate political organization of the society.
• However the behaviour of a voter is influence by several factors such as religion, caste, community, language, money, policy or ideology, purpose of the polls, extent of franchise and the like political parties and groups make use of these variables for the sake of winning the battle of the ballot box.

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