The concept of democracy as visualized by the Indian Constitution pre-supposes the representation of the people in Parliament and State legislatures by the method of election. The Supreme Court has held that democracy is one of the inalienable basic features of the Constitution of India and forms part of its basic structure. Voting is a basic process which enables people with the right to elect their representatives.

However, time and again, it has been an issue of discussion, do Indian voters know the nitty-gritty of the government’s day to day functioning; what shall be the parameters on which they should base their decision to vote etc. Is there any level of direct co-relationship between literacy and voting behavior? Several social scientists have undertaken various researches on this and related topics and they vary widely in their findings.

Historically, there have been instances, wherein various social fault-lines within the Indian society were used for shaping perceptions. The concept of religion and caste-based electorate system introduced by the British Government, in the pre-independence era could be seen in this regard. However, our constitution framers were conscious of this fact and took adequate safeguards against it.

Despite the efforts of the framers of the constitution, elections in the post-independence India have witnessed both explicit and implicit activation of fault-lines along religion, caste, region, language etc. So the larger question arises, does such polarization of voters along such fault-lines affect their capacity to make an informed choice, at the time of casting votes? As one can argue that strength of a democracy would broadly depend on how well-informed the voters are about the national priorities and policies, the elected government shall undertake to maximise the opportunities for its citizens in the fast-evolving globalized world as well as to secure the territorial integrity and positioning of the country in the global space.

The conception of a well-informed voter, some may argue, to be a utopian idea. As the reality exists somewhere else, which depends on the perception being created by the leaders; media rhetoric; different lines being taken by the pressure groups and various social interest groups. However, the reality may exist, somewhere in the middle of all this.

This situation is not unique to Indian democracy only; it is quite evident along different democracies. For instance, in many countries of Europe, anti-migration sentiments among the local population are very high as they see outsiders as encroachers on their job prospects and reason for all the miseries they are going through. Many of these countries have seen emergence of right and far-right governments in recent times. The ongoing Brexit process is also fallout of such perception. Now, the point is whether such perceptions are right or is it just a rhetoric which is going on and on as an inertial drive? However, the point is who created such perceptions? Was it done deliberately or it just happened? The people in the advanced economies have started looking inward and the same is getting reflected in their voting behavior and choice of government they make. The rising sense of protectionism and deglobalization is just an outward manifestation of the same.

The elected leaders are highly conscious about the decisions they take and stand they show to the outside world. Rising global temperature is a reality, substantiated by various reports of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, majority of the voters, believe it is not happening or they have been made to believe so. In such cases countries like US just walk out of any negotiated climate deal. Leaders such as Bolsonaro take an apathetic approach towards burning of the lungs of the earth, the luxuriant Amazon rainforest. In the end all of this is a matter of perception but the question is who shaped it and how?

When US President Donald Trump says that there exists compulsion to build physical wall along the Mexican border; there exists a need to undo all damages which have been done to US due to trade liberalization, etc. What does it exactly signify? Are all these views his personal wish-list or is he driving those points, which his voters truly believe?

The government of Hungary broke ranks with European Union (EU), as they voted against the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in Morocco in December 2018. While EU voted in favour of the same. The point was why Hungary behaved so. Reason lies in the perception of the voters, which the elected government does not wish to defy.

The tightening of immigration laws by the US and ongoing trade war with China, is in sync with the campaign phrase of the American President Donald Trump “Let’s make America Great Again”. Whether these steps will make America great again, only time can tell. But people are believing in this and the elected President, would probably not do anything which goes against this belief.

There fore, one thing is quite evident that in a democracy, perception of the voters is the final dictum. Either voters through their experiences and acquired knowledge, may have developed the perception or these have been planted through a nexus of social media campaigns and others. In either case, it is the perception of the voters which is going to shape the policies and trajectory the country is going to undertake.

The recent announcements by newly elected state governments of Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, regarding reservation for locals in the private business entities in the state, is opening of a new fault-line for shaping the perception of the voters. It is more like selling dreams, rather than their capacity building through skilling and re-skilling. Now, here comes the larger question that are the voters well-informed to guide the elected government to take decision which is beneficial for all, rather than making knee-jerk reactions.

One thing is quite evident, whether it is India or any other democratic society, the policies of the elected government are largely reflection of the perception of their voters. India being a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic, democracy runs like a golden thread along the length and breadth of the country.

At the time of elections, the administrative machinery in the Government leaves no stone unturned for awareness generation among the voters, to encourage them to cast their votes. That’s a massive exercise and the impact it has made can be gauged from the fact that there has been a general increase in the number of people voting in Indian election from 57.4% in 1996 to 67.1 % in the General Election held in 2019. Women voted in good numbers and almost in equal proportion as men.

In representative democracy, leaders are elected to carry the views of their voters forward. So, it is also the voter’s responsibility that apart from voting, they need to let their leaders know what they think about pertinent issues such as water scarcity; declining optimism among youth; unemployment and the lack of opportunities; unbalanced development and growth (pockets of concentrated development); criminalization of politics; corruption; plastic menace and waste management, etc. The time has come in democracy to secure communication channels between voters and their representatives. Voters need to realise that it is necessary to communicate with their representatives fearlessly. The need of the hour is to sensitise the voters and make them aware of the issues which are pertinent for our country in particular and world in general so that they make well-informed choices to contribute towards a peaceful, clean and green world.