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10 Karnataka 70,00,000 28,00,000
11 Kerala 70,00,000 28,00,000
12 Madhya 70,00,000 28,00,000
Pradesh
13 Maharashtra 70,00,000 28,00,000
14 Manipur 70,00,000 20,00,000
15 Meghalaya 70,00,000 20,00,000
16 Mizoram 70,00,000 20,00,000
17 Nagaland 70,00,000 20,00,000
18 Odisha 70,00,000 28,00,000
19 Punjab 70,00,000 28,00,000
20 Rajasthan 70,00,000 28,00,000
21 Sikkim 54,00,000 20,00,000
22 Tamil Nadu 70,00,000 28,00,000
23 Tripura 70,00,000 20,00,000
24 Uttar Pradesh 70,00,000 28,00,000
25 West Bengal 70,00,000 28,00,000
26 Chhattisgarh 70,00,000 28,00,000
27 Uttarakhand 70,00,000 28,00,000
28 Jharkhand 70,00,000 28,00,000
29 Telangana 70,00,000 28,00,000
II. UNION
TERRITORIES
1 Andaman and 54,00,000 –
Nicobar Islands
2 Chandigarh 54,00,000 –
3 Dadra and 54,00,000 –
Nagar Haveli
4 Daman and Diu 54,00,000 –
5 Delhi 70,00,000 28,00,000
6 Lakshadweep 54,00,000 –
7 Puducherry 54,00,000 20,00,000
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. See “Electoral Reforms of 1996”, discussed later in this
chapter.
2. In 1998, the BJP-led Government appointed an eight-
member committee on state funding of elections under
the chairmanship of Indrajit Gupta, a former Home
Minister. The committee submitted its report in 1999. It
upheld the argument for introduction of state funding of
elections. It stated that state funding of elections is
constitutionally and legally justified and is in public
interest.
3. For recommendations of the commission in this regard,
see Chapter 80.
4. This came into force on March 28, 1989. Consequently,
amendments were also made in the Representation of
the People Act of 1950 and 1951.
5. Representation of the People (Amendment) Act of
1988.
6. Ibid.
7. Amendment to the Representation of the People Act of
1951 with effect from March 15, 1989.
8. Section 58-A has been inserted in the Representation of
the People Act of 1951 by Act 1 of 1989.
8a. Annual Report 2013–14, Ministry of Law and Justice,
Government of India, p.67.
9. Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 1996,
with effect from August 1, 1996.
10. As defined in Arms Act, 1959.
11. Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections
(Amendment) Act, 1997.
12. Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 1998.
13. Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 1999.
14. Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2003 and Conduct of
Elections (Amendment) Rules, 2003.
15. Order dated March 27, 2003.
16. Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2003.
17. Election and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act,
2003.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
20a. Election Commission of India circular dated 12th
February, 2009.
21. Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2009,
with effect from February 1, 2010.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010,
with effect from February 10, 2011.
27. The amendment was notified vide S.O. 3242 (E) dated
24th October, 2013.
28. Electoral Statistics : Pocket Book 2015, Election
Commission of India, p.96.
29. Ibid.
30. India Votes : The General Elections 2014, Election
Commission of India, p.18.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.
33. Chief Election Commissioner vs. Jan Chaukidar (2013).
35. Lily Thomas vs. Union of India and Lok Prahari vs.
Union of India (2013).
36. The Hindu, “MPs, MLAs to be disqualified on date of
criminal conviction”, July 10, 2013.
37. Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 as amended in 2014,
with effect from February 28, 2014.
74 Voting Behaviour
MEANING OF VOTING BEHAVIOUR
Voting behaviour is also known as electoral behaviour. It is a form of
political behaviour. It implies the behaviour of voters in the context of
elections in a democratic political system.
Voting behaviour (or the study of voting behaviour) is defined in
the following way:
Plano and Riggs: “Voting behaviour is a field of study concerned
with the ways in which people tend to vote in public elections and the
reasons why they vote as they do.”
Gordon Marshall: “The study of voting behaviour invariably focuses
on the determinants of why people vote as they do and how they
arrive at the decisions they make”.1
Oinam Kulabidhu: “Voting behaviour may be defined as the
behaviour that explicitly reflects voter’s choices, preferences,
alternatives, ideologies, concerns, agreements, and programmes in
respect of various issues, questions pertaining to the society and
nation”.2
Stephen Wasby: “The study of 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
SIGNIFICANCE OF VOTING BEHAVIOUR
Psephology, a branch of political science, deals with the scientific
study of voting behaviour. This is a new term popularised by the
American political scientists and political sociologists.
The recorded history of voting goes back, at least, to the Greek
Polis. The modern world for the study of voting behaviour,
psephology, derives from the classical Greek ‘Psephos’, the piece of
pottery on which certain votes, mainly about the banishment of those
seen as dangerous to the state, were inscribed.4
The study of voting behaviour is significant for the following
reasons:5
1. It helps in comprehending the process of political socialisation.
2. It helps in examining the internalisation of democracy as a
value among the elite as well as masses.
3. It emphasises the real impact of revolutionary ballot box.
4. It enables to throw light as to how far the electoral politics
continue or break with the past.
5. It helps to measure whether it is modern or primordial in the
context of political development.
According to N.G.S. Kini, voting behaviour can be regarded as:
1. A mode of legitimising democratic rule;
2. Instancing “participation” in the political process involving
integration into the political community;
3. Instancing an act of decision-making;
4. A role-action involving definite political orientation imbedded in
a particular type of political culture; or
5. A direct relation of the individual citizens to the formal
DETERMINANTS OF VOTING BEHAVIOUR
Indian society is highly diversified in nature and composition. Hence,
voting behaviour in India is determined or influenced by multiple
factors. These several factors can be divided, into two broad
categories, namely, socioeconomic factors and political factors.
These are explained below:
1. Caste: Caste is an important factor influencing the behaviour of
voters. Politicisation of caste and casteism in politics has been
a remarkable feature of Indian politics. Rajni Kothari said
“Indian politics is casteist, and caste is politi-cised”.6 While
formulating their election strategies, the political parties always
take into account the factor of caste.
Paul Brass has very-well explained the role of caste factor in
the Indian voting behaviour in the following way: “At the local
level, in the country side, by far the most important factor in
voting behaviour remains caste solidarity. Large and important
castes in a constituency tend to back either a respected
member of their caste or a political party with whom their caste
members identify. However, local factions and local-state
factional alignments that involve intercaste coalitions, are also
important factors in influencing voting behaviour”.7
2. Religion: Religion is another significant factor which influences
the electoral behaviour. 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 politicisation of religion. Despite India being a secular
nation, no political party ignores the influence of religion in
electoral politics.
3. Language: 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 re-organisation of states (in 1956
and later) on language basis clearly reflects the significance of
language factor in Indian politics. The rise of some political
parties like DMK in Tamil Nadu and TDP in Andhra Pradesh
can be attributed to the linguism.8
subnationalism led to the emergence and perpetuation of
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.
5. Personality: The charismatic9 personality of the party leader
plays an important role in electoral behaviour. Thus, the
towering image of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv
Gandhi, Jay Prakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
Narendra Modi has significantly influenced the electorate to
vote in favour of their parties. Similarly, at the state level also,
the charismatic personality of the regional party leader has
been a significant factor of popular support in the elections.
6. Money: The role of 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 voters only
in the normal circumstances and not in a wave election.
Paul Brass has very-well explained the meaning of a wave
election in the following way: “A wave election is one in which a
clear tendency begins to develop among the electorate in a
single direction and in favour of a national party or its leader. It
is based upon an issue or set of issues that transcend local
calculations and coalition and draws the bulk of the
uncommitted and wavering voters in the same direction as the
word spreads from village to village and tea stall to tea stall”.10
7. 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 the voting
behaviour. Thus, the anti-incumbency factor (which means
dissatisfaction with the performance of the ruling party) is a
determinant of electoral behaviour.
8. Party Identification: Personal and emotional association with
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.
9. Ideology: 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
communism, capitalism, democracy, secularism, patriotism,
decentralisation and so on. Such people generally support the
candidates put up by the parties professing those ideologies.
However, it must be printed out here that the number of such
people is low.
10. Other Factors: In addition to the aboveexplained factors, there
are also various other factors which determine the voting
behaviour of the Indian electorate. These are mentioned below:
(i) Political events preceding an election like war, murder of
leader, corruption scandals, etc.
(ii) Economic conditions at the time of election like inflation, fo
shortage, unemployment, etc.
(iii) Factionalism - a feature of Indian politics from bottom to t
levels
(iv) Age - old or young
(v) Sex - men or women
(vi) Education - educated or uneducated
(vii) Habitation - rural or urban (viii) Class (income) - rich or poor
(ix) Family and kinship
(x) Candidate orientation
(xi) Election campaign
(xii) Political family background
ROLE OF MEDIA IN ELECTIONS AND VOTING
BEHAVIOUR
The following points explain the role of media in elections and voting
behaviour:11
1. Information Dissemination
Information dissemination in relation to elections, particularly during
the process of elections is extremely important for all stakeholders.
Starting from the announcement of elections to nomination, scrutiny,
campaign, security arrangements, polling, counting, declaration of
results, etc., all of these require widest circulation. The voter comes
to know about the basics like: what, when, where and how of
elections generally through the media. Even last minute changes of
polling arrangements, violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC),
and violation of expenditure instructions, any untoward incidents or
disturbances promptly come to the notice not only of the people but
also of the Election Commission through the media.
Newspapers and news channels have very enthusiastically made
use of the information relating to educational, financial and criminal
antecedents of candidates, contained in the affidavit filed by them
along with their nomination paper, which is immediately uploaded on
the Election Commission’s website. This has contributed to further
honesty and transparency in the election system.
2. Enforcement of MCC and other Laws
In today’s democratic and political landscape, the watch-dog role of
the media is quite vital. Media can highlight incidents of use of
muscle and money power by political parties or candidates and
educate the electors on ethical and inducement-free voting practices.
It can also expose violations of the MCC such as divisive or hate
speeches or unverified allegations in campaigns aimed at influencing
electors. Violations reported by media are followed up by the Election
Commission as in dealing with formal complaints.
The media can sensitise the political functionaries and the
electorate about the MCC and relevant laws and instructions
3. Compliance to Election Laws
The Election Commission does not regulate media. It has however,
the responsibility to enforce the provisions of law or Court directions,
which might have linkages with media or certain aspects of media
functioning. During elections, media is present and active at all
stages which would also mean that they too conform to various laws
governing the elections. These laws are mentioned below:
(i) Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951: It
prohibits displaying any election matter by mean of
cinematograph, television or other similar apparatus, during the
period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of
poll.
(ii) Section 126A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951:
It prohibits conduct of exit poll and dissemination of their results
during the period mentioned therein, i.e., the hour fixed for