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In successive elections, electoral participation in India’s big, metropolitan cities has been lower vis-à-vis semi-urban and rural constituencies. In the absence of any empirical evidence, this phenomenon is often attributed by the media and political commentators to middle-class apathy and their disdain towards electoral politics. This article con...
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... mig rants in India's cities may come from different economic classes, in big cities, internal migrants are more likely to be poor than non-migrants ( Kundu and Sarangi 2007). We fi nd that a large share of the urban poor in Delhi are migrants who migrated to the city in the last 5-10 years or in the last 10 years (Table 4). Even among slum-dwellers (a large part of the urban poor reside in slum settlements), a large number among them are migrants (IIPS 2009). ...Context 2
... dispelled the myth that middleclass apathy is the cause of the low voter turnout in India's big cities, we return to our problem. Our surveys ( Table 4) have highlighted that it is the economically lower and poorer sections whose parti cipation is substantially lower. This leads us to investigate the incidence of low electoral participation among the urban poor. ...Citations
... of low rates of migrant participation in destination cities insofar as socialization in high-turnout origins areas is not evident in migrants' city-based political behaviors. 12 See Kumar and Banerjee (2017). In a 2018 survey of 6,884 slum dwellers in Mumbai, 61% of respondents who were born out of state reported having a local voter ID card, whereas the corresponding figure for in-state respondents was 71%. ...
Migrants are politically marginalized in cities of the developing world, participating in destination-area elections less than do local-born residents. We theorize three reasons for this shortfall: migrants' socioeconomic links to origin regions, bureaucratic obstacles to enrollment that disproportionately burden newcomers, and ostracism by antimigrant politicians. We randomized a door-to-door drive to facilitate voter registration among internal migrants to two Indian cities. Ties to origin regions do not predict willingness to become registered locally. Meanwhile, assistance in navigating the electoral bureaucracy increased migrant registration rates by 24 percentage points and substantially boosted next-election turnout. An additional treatment arm informed politicians about the drive in a subset of localities; rather than ignoring new migrant voters, elites amplified campaign efforts in response. We conclude that onerous registration requirements impede the political incorporation, and thus the well-being, of migrant communities in fast-urbanizing settings. The findings also matter for assimilating naturalized yet politically excluded cross-border immigrants.
... In the absence of a valid proof of identity and residence, migrants face formidable barriers to get themselves enrolled on the voters' list despite having lived at the place of destination beyond the stipulated period. This is evident from the consistently low enrolment and turnout rates among urban migrants, a phenomenon which for far too long has been attributed to the political apathy of the urban middle classes (Kumar & Banerjee, 2017). ...
... With regard to political process, it should be noted that the average turnout of voters in the 15 national elections in India till General Elections 2014 was observed to be merely 60 percent (Kumar and Banerjee 2017). In the General Elections 2019, the voter turnout was even 2 percent lesser (Times of India, May 20, 2019). ...
... Researchers have suggested that a significant proportion of nonparticipating electorates is of young and educated middle class voters residing in metropolitan cities (Kumar and Banerjee 2017). Researchers have attributed this to the increased political corruptions leading to distrust among voters with democratic institutions (Miller and Listhaug 1999;Warren 1999;Dalton 2004;Rothstein 2005). ...
The primary aim of the present study was to propose a scale comprising
factors that sensitize voters toward the political system and stimulate them
for an active participation in the election process. More specifically, the
study aimed to propose a scale for measuring political sensitivity of young
Indian voters. For this purpose, the data was generated from the users of
internet who fall in the age bracket of 18–29 years. The generated data
was analyzed employing the statistical techniques such as exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Based on the
study findings, a 9-item scale comprising three factors economic considerations, social considerations and perceived risk was proposed to capture
political sensitivity of young Indian voters. This scale was named as
Political Sensitivity Measurement (PSM). One interesting observation of the
study was that the religious and caste consideration of young Indian voters
was not important for motivating them for an active political participation.
The study is pioneering in the sense that it initiates efforts for comprehensive analyses of the factors that inspire young Indian voters to participate
in the election process. PSM will greatly help the academicians and
researchers for an improved understanding of the Indian voters. The scale
would also assist politicians in developing appropriate strategies.
... Furthermore, a higher population Density is less likely to win the election by 0.49% (-0.005x0.994). This may be probably because a highdensity population does not necessarily mean a higher voter turnout (Chandra and Potter, 2016;Kumar and Banerjee, 2017), and neither does high population density mean that they will vote only for the incumbent. ...
Using the pooled-mean group method (PMG), this paper attempts to trace the political transfer cycles in parliamentary and assembly elections in India from 1980-81 to 2010-11. It is found that the political transfer cycles are more pronounced in the year before parliamentary elections and in the year of assembly elections in the case of loans from the centre. Furthermore, from the binary Logit specification it is established that opportunistic manipulations of grants from the centre, in the year before parliamentary elections and the levels of loans from the centre in the year of assembly elections can help the incumbent regain its power. Inflation is found to be electorally harmful for the incumbent as it increases the likelihood of losing the election at union level, but not necessarily at state level. Similarly, a right-wing government is more likely to win the election, whereas, if the centre and the states have the same government or if the state government is an ally, the possibility of retaining power for the union government is lowered, and it is raised in the case of state-level governments. Furthermore, a coalition government, in general, reduces the possibility of winning in both parliamentary and state elections.
... Despite rapid urbanisation, India's rural population still amounts to about 70% of the population. Rural and semi-urban voters participate in elections at a greater rate than voters in metropolitan cities and patronage networks in rural areas are important sources of political influence for political parties [38]. The Indian government's protectionism in the agricultural sector is also driven by a weak manufacturing sector. ...
Proponents of the Indo-Pacific concept assume that growing economic and societal linkages and the need for greater political and security cooperation and order-building are leading to the integration of the region. India and Indonesia were thought to be crucial in these processes of regionalisation and regionalism and were early adopters of the Indo-Pacific idea. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which the Indo-Pacific initiatives of India and Indonesia are leading to the integration of the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions through greater Indian involvement with the Pacific region and stronger Indonesian engagement with the Indian Ocean region. It is argued that an interlinked set of security and economic concerns drove India and Indonesia’s adoption of the Indo-Pacific idea. In both cases, a desire for economic growth and preventing Chinese economic and political dominance in the region were important drivers. However, the nature of the political economies of India and Indonesia does not readily facilitate extensive economic linkages or strategic interests beyond their immediate regions. Moreover, both countries are wary of being seen as members of anti-China coalitions due to the impact this may have on regional stability and their domestic political and economic priorities. These factors place significant limitations on the regional integration of the Indo-Pacific.
... Existing scholarship has uncovered provocative empirical patterns: India has relatively high turnout despite having relatively low levels of income and education (Kumar and Banerjee 2017); the poor turn out to vote at least as much as the middle and upper classes (Kumar 2009); voters in rural areas now turn out more than voters in urban areas (Banerjee 2015). ...
We estimate the causal effect of independent candidates on voter turnout and election outcomes in India. To do this, we exploit exogenous changes in the entry deposit candidates pay for their participation in the political process, changes that disproportionately excluded candidates with no affiliation to established political parties. A one standard deviation increase in the number of independent candidates increases voter turnout by more than 6 percentage points, as some voters choose to vote rather than stay home. The vote share of independent candidates increases by more than 10 percentage points, as some existing voters switch who they vote for. Thus, independents allow winning candidates to win with less vote share, decrease the probability of electing a candidate from the governing coalition by about 31 percentage points, and ultimately increase the probability of electing an ethnic-party candidate. Altogether, the results imply that the price of participation by independents is constituency representation in government.
... Existing scholarship has uncovered provocative empirical patterns: India has relatively high turnout despite having relatively low levels of income and education (Kumar and Banerjee 2017); the poor turn out to vote at least as much as the middle and upper classes (Kumar 2009); voters in rural areas now turn out more than voters in urban areas (Banerjee 2015). ...
... Existing scholarship has uncovered provocative empirical patterns: India has relatively high turnout despite having relatively low levels of income and education (Kumar and Banerjee 2017); the poor turn out to vote at least as much as the middle and upper classes (Kumar 2009); voters in rural areas now turn out more than voters in urban areas (Banerjee 2015). ...
The present study investigates the events and circumstances that shape the voter’s decisions and their involvement in the electoral process. It also aims to analyze factors that have affected electoral politics and voting behavior in the Punjab Assembly election. India’s geo-political, socio-economic, cultural, and religious conditions played an important role in the formation, identity, and growth of the political parties in Punjab. The present study deals with the comparative analysis of the major political organizations and their role in future political developments in the province. This research article also provides a deep political insight into the nature and quality invested in the leadership of the Punjab political parties. The paper analyzes the analytical overview of Punjab’s electoral politics from the 2012 to 2022 Assembly elections. Lok Sabha elections 2019 initially seemed to be a direct fight in the State of Punjab between the traditional rivals of politics, i.e., the Shiromani Akali Dal - Bharatiya Janata Party alliance and the Congress Party. But the excellent performance of the newly formed Aam Aadmi Party made it a triangular contest between the Shiromani Akali Dal - Bharatiya Janata Party alliance, Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party. The study examines the causes for the Aam Aadmi Party’s landslide success in Punjab elections and why residents overwhelmingly voted for the Delhi model of development promised by the party in the state’s 16th assembly election. The present study is based on secondary data sources and adapted the qualitative and quantitative methods. Participatory research methods, narratives, discourses, and grounded theory are the fundamental approaches besides correlation, technique, and geo-spatial mapping. The data has been analyzed and interpreted with the help of various statistical methods like simple statistics and cartographic techniques for analyzing data like percentages, choropleth, line Graphs, and Arc GIS 10.2. It is being observed that political party-based association, local groupings, language, class, factors of caste, biradari, ideology, and religious identities are the main contributing factors in defining the trend of voting behavior in Punjab. The emergence of Aam Admi party as a dominant political force in electoral politics of Punjab is reflected in the crucial adaptation of civic politics based on its profound Delhi Model.
Keywords: Punjab elections, Political parties, Identity Politics, Electoral Politics, Voting behavior, Assembly elections
