![]() Of Change And ContinuitiesAshutosh Kumar Edited by Paul Wallace Sage Publications, Delhi, 2015, pp. 427, Rs. 1250.00 VOLUME XXXIX NUMBER 12 December 2015 The election held in 2014 was significant
in many respects. First, for the
first time in the electoral history of
India, a non-Congress party was able to come
to power at the centre on its own, considering
the fact that the Janata Party was a conglomeration
of parties ‘coming together’ to
contest election in 1977. Second, the colossal
presence and impact of Narendra Modi
as the prime ministerial candidate and chief
campaigner of the BJP over the eventual electoral
outcome was a reminder of the personcentered
campaigns undertaken by Indira
Gandhi in the 1970s. Third, it was arguably
the first election when the social, electronic
and print media seemed to play such
an important role in setting the electoral
agenda and influencing electoral choices.
Fourth, this election reflected clearly the
demographic shift taking place in mostly
young India with 100 million new voters,
among whom 23 million voters were 18-19
year old. Fourth, the election saw the unprecedented
loss of seats for the Congress as
its tally was reduced to 44 seats, raising concerns
about the future of the national party
and its leadership especially in the States like
West Bengal, where it ceased to be among
the contenders for power by a long shot.
Fifth, a right to the centre shift was also visible
in favour of market oriented economy if
one goes by the NES survey data especially
among the voting public belonging to the
urban middle classes and also the youth.
However, in true Indian tradition, there
were important continuities also that accompanied
the change. For one, contrary to
popular perception the elections did not see
the decimation of the State parties. The State
level ‘regionalist’ parties having ethno-linguistic
roots like AIDMK, TRS, TMC, TDP,
among others retained their support base as
the same number of the seats (212) as in
2009 elections remained this time also with
the state level parties. The BJP gain was
mostly at the cost of the Congress and the
dismal performance of the caste-based ‘social
justice’ parties of the Hindi speaking
states from where the BJP got most of its
seats. Even the Congress getting 19 plus
percent of the votes should have got more
seats if the votes polled for the Party would have translated proportionately into seats,
but for the first past the post electoral system.
Then the politicization and mobilization
along the lines of identities continued
to play a significant role in determining the
electoral outcome ... Table of Contents >> |