The electoral system in India requires elections to the three tiers of democratic government—national, regional and local—every five years. As these elections do not occur in tandem, elections come round frequently, as does the practice of voting. The word ‘vote’ is used widely and frequently all over India and has taken on a range of meanings that go well beyond the dry instrumentality of registering a preference.
While official translations exist in Indian languages—for example, matdaan in Hindi—the word ‘vote’ is what is most commonly used for its brevity and simplicity. So on polling day, a Hindi speaker would say: ‘hum vote zaroor daalenge’ (‘I will vote for sure’). Similarly, when assessing their electoral chances during the 2009 elections, party workers were heard to say ‘vote ki banaavat hamaare paksh mein hai’ (‘the vote/final result is looking in our favour’) or ‘vote bikhar raha hai’ (‘the votes are getting scattered, i.e. we are losing the votes’). Others, explaining that they tend to vote for a politician of their caste, said: ‘Ka ho bhaiya, beti to vote jaat ke baahar debe jaat hain ka’ or ‘Jat apna vote aur apni beti sirf Jat ko deta hai’ (‘Jats give their daughters and their votes only to their caste members’). The word ‘vote’ has been thoroughly assimilated into the Indian lexicon, and to point out to most Indians that ‘vote’ is an English loanword would cause consternation. It has been made thoroughly Indian, as have its associated words such as ‘voter’, ‘voting’, and ‘voter list’.
The word ‘vote’ was introduced into India in the colonial period when elections were introduced on partial suffrage. By 1935, about one-fifth of the adult male population, determined by ownership of property and education, could vote. India adopted universal suffrage in 1950, although the decision was met with derision and surprise by many international observers, given the high levels of poverty and illiteracy in post-colonial India. However, in the following seven decades, the conduct of India's elections have continued to improve with high and rising rates of voter participation and a proliferation of political parties and candidates.
Voter turnouts in India have risen with every national election (an average of 60 percent) and are routinely higher in local elections (an average of over 80 percent). Voting is a popular activity in India. There are several reasons for this, not least the nature of elections. In contrast to the usual inefficiencies of Indian public institutions, the well-oiled machinery of the Election Commission stands out because of its excellent performance in conducting elections on an unimaginably large scale. The size of the electorate is 815 million; twelve million officials are deployed; eight million electronic voting machines are used; the election is scheduled over several weeks to maximise scrutiny and minimise fraud; and results are released within a few hours of counting. Voting comes as the culmination of rambunctious election campaigns that are carnivalesque in character, turning the usual norms upside down. A Model Code of Conduct governs the campaign and places strictures on misuse of incentives by incumbent governments, and controls public behaviour and speech in a vain attempt to curb the excesses that money and violence inevitably play in elections. The coercive tactics of political parties can dominate elections in many parts of India, although people delight in the reversal of roles as the ordinary voter suddenly becomes the object of attention of the powerful. The otherwise crisp and laundered clothes of rich politicians are sullied by dusty road journeys across vast constituencies, their arrogant heads bent to enter the modest huts of the poor, and their hands folded in a plea for votes.
The business of voting itself is accessible, efficient, takes minimum effort, and the public holiday that is declared for polling adds a festive air. Voters report that the actual experience of voting at a polling station is made solemn by the orderly atmosphere, disciplined queues, the respect shown by officials for everyone regardless of social background, and the efficiency of the procedure—all of which are rare occurrences in Indian public life. People queue in the order in which they arrive and no preference is made on the basis of wealth, status or any other social marker. For those who are routinely discriminated against on the grounds of caste, colour, class or religion in everyday life—and millions of Indians experience these acutely—this extraordinary glimpse of egalitarianism is valued.
Voting has thus become the most assertive way for neglected citizens to inscribe their presence on the body politic. By showing up to vote, they argue, they avail themselves of the chance of both seeing and being seen by the state and reminding the elite and powerful that they exist, and in large numbers, and can therefore determine their political fate at elections. ‘Vote amaader ostro’ (‘the vote is our weapon’) is a statement often used to describe this sense of empowerment. The voter is also conscious of making the correct individual choice, which is always vulnerable to the influence of a caste group, kin or community or indeed money and muscle. But the secret ballot offers an opportunity to escape this pressure. As one man said: ‘One cannot express political loyalties inside a village, it is too risky. But we can in the vote’.
To vote has therefore become a means of being taken seriously, as one man put it: ‘Vote se hamaar pehchaan banthe’ (‘The vote gives me recognition’). Research shows that voting is seen as a duty to exercise a foundational right (maulik adhikaar) that each citizen has and one that underpins all other claims—to food, education and security. Some even refer to it as their birthright (janamsiddh adhikaar). Thus Indian voters see their electoral participation as fundamental to their engagement with the state, and their names on the voting rolls as a rare but valued official acknowledgement of their existence by a system that otherwise neglects their interests. Fulfilling the duty to vote is an important responsibility, and as one voter said when he was asked why he would vote: ‘It is my right to vote and it is my duty to exercise this right. If I don't discharge this duty, it is meaningless to have this right’. A voter in Kolkata referred to election day in 2009 as ‘Vote Puja’ (‘worship’) to capture this meaning of voting as an inviolate and sacrosanct duty.
The responsibility to vote is further reinforced by tremendous peer pressure not to waste a vote. This has been inadvertently created by the simple procedure followed by election officials of marking the left index finger of those who have voted with a short vertical line in indelible black ink. While this is done to prevent fraud, it also creates peer pressure, particularly in close-knit communities, as it is impossible to lie about having voted. To not have the proof of the ink mark on one's finger results in suspicion and questions about the reasons for abstaining, and so to vote is the easiest way out of this badgering scrutiny.
For the majority of marginalised citizens of India, to not vote is thus unthinkable for a variety of reasons and is expressed in emphatic terms by many: ‘Vote to debe hi karo’ (‘Of course I will vote’). And because of this potency, to be able to vote is a cherished right that people express in emotive terms as one man did: ‘Vote na diye to aisa laga jaise maa se bachcha bichhad jaata hai na’ (‘For us not to vote is like a child to be separated from its mother’). Thus, as with other loanwords, the original meaning in English has been rather expanded in its Indian usage. While ‘to vote’ continues to indicate a mechanism to express support for a chosen candidate or political party in an election, it also indicates an affective attachment to the action.
Thus, the word ‘vote’ is rich with meaning in India and adds additional texture to our understandings of elections and democracy everywhere. India's functioning electoral democracy contrasts with its rather poor record of according basic democratic rights of security or justice to most of its population. It is for this reason that ‘vote’ has become so burdened with meaning and nuance, standing as it does for a plethora of values associated with the democratic ethic that are missing in everyday life and glimpsed only during elections. A vote does not merely indicate electoral choice, but encodes a faith in values of citizenship and a hope for a better future.
Acknowledgements
All the statements by voters were collected by the team of researchers involved in the ‘Comparative Electoral Ethnographies during 2009 Lok Sabha Elections in India’ project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, UK [RES-000-22-3376]. Research was conducted during the months of Mar.–May 2009 by the principal investigator of the project, Mukulika Banerjee, across India, and Priyadarshini Singh (Bihar), Dolonchampa Chakrabarty (West Bengal), Geert De Neve and Grace Carswell (Tamil Nadu), Deepu Sebastian (Kerala), Abhay Datar (Maharashtra), Mekhala Krishnamurthy (Madhya Pradesh), Goldy M. George (Chhattisgarh), Vanita Falcao (Rajasthan), Mahashweta Jani (Gujarat), Rosina Nasir (Delhi), Satendra Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) and Badri Narayan (Uttar Pradesh). The findings of this project were published in the volume, Mukulika Banerjee, Why India Votes (Delhi/London: Routledge, 2014).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.