High turnouts are becoming more frequent and very widespread in >Indian elections . That the record turnout in the 2014 Lok Sabha election was no aberration is becoming evident with the Haryana Assembly election reporting its > highest-ever polling percentage and Maharashtra improving on its 2009 turnout figures. Whether the increased voter participation is on account of a desire for change at the national and State levels, or civil society movements on corruption and other social issues are having a spillover effect on voters’ political involvement is not clear, but recent elections have drawn more enthusiastic electors to the polling booths. The awareness campaign of the Election Commission together with vigorous campaigning by candidates and political parties aided by greater access to polling booths, easier process of voting and shorter queues have all added up to a high voter turnout. Also, 2014 added more young adults to the electoral rolls, in both absolute and percentage terms, than at any time before. Those between 18 and 19 years now constitute 2.88 per cent of the total electorate as against a mere 0.75 per cent five years ago. Both political disenchantment and economic contentment can keep people away from voting. In India’s case, disenchantment seems to have been overcome, and contentment is yet to be.
Like at the Centre at the time of the Lok Sabha election, the Congress carried the burden of incumbency into the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls. Both States had voted heavily in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha election, and despite the political realignments there is no evidence of a radical change in the ground situation. All >exit polls mark out the BJP as the single largest party, if not the outright winner, in both Maharashtra and Haryana. Although the BJP and the Shiv Sena parted ways acrimoniously, a post-poll tie-up should still be possible if only because the Shiv Sena would rather have a share of the pie than nothing at all. Any refusal to support the BJP would also mean that the party’s lone Minister at the Centre, Anant Geete, would have to quit. In any case, the BJP can count on the support of some of the smaller parties, including the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena led by Raj Thackeray, which is waiting to take the place of the Sena as the preferred ally of the BJP. In Haryana too, the BJP can count on the support of the smaller players in the event of the party falling short of a majority. But even if it emerges as the single largest party, the BJP’s decision to go it alone in both States would be vindicated only if it is able to repeat its pre-poll no-nonsense approach in seat negotiations, in post-poll bargaining on power-sharing.
