Increasing voter turnouts are indeed heartening
While we won't know until Sunday the results of the five recently-held Assembly elections, there is a clear winner already — the voter. The high turnout in all the five States that went to the hustings is in itself a tremendous success story which reaffirms the foundation of the world's largest democracy. The turnout number from Delhi, which voted on Wednesday, has been especially encouraging. Once notorious for its electoral indifference, the national Capital has broken all records this time with an impressive turnout of 67 per cent — its highest ever, since 1993 when its first Assembly election was held. The Delhi figure is in keeping with the overall nationwide trend of increased voter participation. Take a look at the numbers: Chhattisgarh recorded a 77 per cent turnout as opposed to 70.61 per cent in 2008; Madhya Pradesh hit 72.52 per cent as compared to 69.52 per cent in 2008, Mizoram performed remarkably well at 81.29 per cent, even though that was marginally lower than its 2008 figure, Rajasthan also polled better this time at 72.52 per cent, as compared to 66.48 per cent in 2008.
Delhi too improved its 2008 tally of 57.58 per cent. In fact, this trend has consistently gained strength over the past two decades. Between 2003 and 2012, 24 Assembly elections have been held and at least 19 of them have registered an increased voter turnout. In cases where the number has dropped, it has only fallen slightly. This trend has also proven wrong old assumptions of electoral behaviour — that a high turnout reflects high anti-incumbency sentiment, whereas a low turnout means a vote in favour of the status quo. It has also united voters from all spectrums — rural and urban, and even those in insurgency-hit areas, have all come out in large numbers to exercise their franchise.
There could be several reasons for this. In some cases, political parties, especially new entrants, and new national leaders, play a major role in public mobilisation. In Delhi, for instance, the debutant Aam Aadmi Party and Mr Narendra Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate evoked popular interest. Another important factor at play across the country is the emergence of a large number of young, first-time voters — this is directly co-related with India's young demographic bulge. The Election Commission, especially, has played an important part in motivating young voters to join the electoral process. Indeed, its youth outreach efforts have been part of a larger voter awareness campaign called the Systematic Education for Electoral Participation. This programme has been a huge success. But, undoubtedly, the biggest factor that has contributed to the high turnout numbers is the massive clean-up of electoral rolls that the EC has done in the past decade. It has removed ghost voters (such as locals who may have shifted and could not have voted anyway), fake voters and dead voters, and provided a clearer picture of popular participation.