Record high turnout means deepening political participation — and a tough task for the winner
The high turnouts in the states that went to polls — four of these states registered their highest ever voting percentages — have announced that participatory democracy in our country stands enhanced. It will be known today what the message of the new voter is. Has she voted for change? In a multi-cornered contest as in Uttar Pradesh, for instance, will the larger turnout mean a more decisive, less fragmented outcome? Given that a large part of the increase is attributed to the young first-time voter, will it mean politics will now grow younger in ideas, and an older politics centred on identity and congealed resentments overtaken? Whichever way it goes after the ballot boxes are opened, this much is certain: today’s victors will have to settle down to a task more challenging. They will have to deal with many more dreams and aspirations, they will be subject to greater watchfulness than governments before them.
The increasing turnouts must be seen in a larger context. In several Western democracies, there is much agonising about the setting in of voters’ cynicism and indifference, reflected in their dwindling numbers. India does not just buck the trend with its healthy electorates, it sends out a yet more enviable message: here, past surveys have underlined, voter participation is known to go up as one moves down the ladder of caste and privilege. That is, the enduring character of India’s democracy and its sturdiness is made up of the fact that the poor and the disprivileged, by and large — in spite of pockets of apathy and disillusion as in Naxal-affected areas — continue to have hope from and trust in the system. This is a message important not just in a comparative context. It must also be heeded by those in India who have, especially in recent months, tried to work up a mood of anti-politics. The unprecedented turnouts in this round are a direct snub to those feverish exertions.
This is a moment to congratulate the Election Commission. As it ensured that voters’ slips are made easily available, relaxed norms related to access to polling booths, campaigned to enrol the new voter, and kept a strict vigil on expenditure and law-and-order in the poll-going states, the EC was a reassuring presence. It has sealed its formidable reputation as a neutral arbiter.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/one-verdict-is-in/920526/0
