This concerns a news article that appeared in the Times of India, New Delhi edition of April 17, 2024, and is captioned “Bundi eyes sweet turnout with chai pe charcha.”
Officials in Rajasthan’s Bundi are trying to make elections a point of popular talk at tea stalls. Stickers on paper cups and gas cylinders press home the important message for people to cast their vote and not neglect this most important democratic duty. This forms part of the strategies to increase electoral awareness and voter turnout. A significant increase in voter turnout from the 2019 General Elections (66 per cent) to the 2023 state elections (77.6 per cent) was observed through such strategies earlier. The state government officials are doing a remarkable duty of driving an awareness campaign and encouraging people to exercise their franchise in the ensuing polls in the second phase on April 26.
While the above efforts of government officials are laudable, their past positive experience with applying such voter turnover-enhancing strategies brings out some important facts related to government formation in our country. In the last general elections, BJP won 303 Lok Sabha seats, and Congress (INC) secured 52 seats with a vote share of approximately 38 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively. The voter turnout was 67 percent. The voter turnout figure was nearly the same in the 2014 general elections but was a poor 58 per cent in the 2009 elections, in which Congress secured as many as 206 seats and BJP only 116 seats. This shows that BJP gains exponentially in elections with increasing voter turnout. There is no intriguing fact behind this. The reasons are all too clear and can be enumerated below.
BJP voters have poorer turnover compared to their Congress counterparts. The committed BJP voter is less committed to turning up for voting than his Congress counterpart.
Seats rose exponentially with an increase in the upbeat swing of votes cast in favour of either party.
The BJP must adopt and work on a three-pronged strategy for these elections. The most important strategic step BJP needs to take to reach the magical 370 Lok Sabha seats is increasing voter turnout, especially its committed voter turnout. This can be achieved by devising creative and out-of-the-box measures to enhance voter turnout, as described above in this article. One such measure can be specific campaigns focused on youth and senior citizens.
The next important step is educating the electorate in non-BJP constituencies and regions and vigorous canvassing and campaigning there, including in the South Indian states. Campaigns to educate the voters on the remarkable achievements of the Modi Government and highlight the future lofty plans of national development blueprinted by the BJP need to be more vigorous than at present, and these will go a big way in accruing the additional electoral gains to reach the figure of 370 seats.
The third element of an effective strategy will be blatantly and brazenly highlighting the failures of the past non-BJP governments. The foreign roots of the Congress party, its naked imitation of creating caste and communal divides for the ascent to power, much like the colonial British and its dismal record on administrative probity, should receive the utmost focus. People in India understand and absorb facts better when presented dramatically. Poems, couplets and acts of showmanship will serve the purpose very well, especially by involving film stars, some of whom are political candidates in these elections.
As the above analysis shows, if the Election Commission and the state governments work hard to increase overall voter turnout and the BJP contributes to such efforts in BJP-ruled states as well as non-BJP-ruled ones, voter turnout may be possible to 72 per cent, which will guarantee the tally of 370 seats for the BJP and the important figure of 400 for the NDA.
It is a watershed moment in India’s tumultuous political history. The electorate cutting across caste, class, faith and religion should be encouraged to cast its franchise in large numbers in favour of Bharat— the superpower in the making. Bharat is the mother of democracy, and the achievement of a high voter turnout, as pegged above, will not only ensure the landmark figure victory for the BJP but also serve as an object lesson for the electorate of other democratic countries, which shall be going to polls this year. Countries like the USA are also plagued by low voter turnout. Democracy is a people-centric governance system, and a healthy turnout of voters is the most essential ingredient of a democratic system. Let all our efforts be directed at this aspect in the ensuing elections to secure Bharat’s future as the world’s global political, economic and cultural leader.
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