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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).
34. Vide the Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation) Act, 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.
38. The Economic Times, "Electronic Voting Machines to carry photos of candidates : CEC”, September 9, 2015.
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 process and their impact on elections”.3
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 government.
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
4. Region: Regionalism and sub-regionalism play an important role in voting behaviour. These parochial feelings of
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 political parties plays a role in determining voting behaviour.
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 o 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 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
(xiii) Role of media
ROLE OF MEDIA IN ELECTIONS AND VOTING BEHAVIOUR
The following points explain the role of media in elections and voting behaviour:11