Baljit Grewal: May 2004

News Analysis: Why Indian elite losing faith http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-05/12/content_1463714.htm by Jiang Yaping NEW DELHI, May 11 (Xinhuanet) -- With the total voter turnout in the elections in New Delhi constituency being only 45 percent, experts here see it as a decline of faith in the voting system, especially among the elite. In the constituencies of New Delhi and South Delhi, the turnout was moderate with about 45 and 46 percent voters casting their votes in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) polls, held on Monday. It shows that elite people are losing faith in the system, as said Navin Surapaneni of Center for Media Studies in New Delhi on Tuesday. On the moderate turnout in New Delhi constituency, he said, as 63 percent voters in the constituency are government employees, the moderate turnout could be because they might have used a three-day off from their offices for a vacation. The absence of 55 percent voters also reflects erosion of faithof the people in the democratic system. "They simply do not trust any political leader irrespective of any party he/she belongs to,"Surapaneni said, adding that most voters are lower class people with less education or illiterate. Discarding the temperature, which sore to a maximum of 41 degree Celsius, having a role in the moderate turnout, a well-known psychologist Dr Sameer Parikh said that generally heat does not hold voters from casting their votes but it could slightly affect people in the upper literate class. Low or moderate turnout reduces the margin of victory and generally favors the party in power, whereas high turnout generally goes against the party in power as the anti-incumbency wave brings more voters to the polling booths because they want a change in the government, Parikh said. Low turnout is also witnessed when people think that nothing would change even if they use their vote, Parikh said. In some cases, some voters even use their veto power at the polling booths. Reports said many voters in south Delhi and Noida constituencies exercised their "refusing to vote" power by showingthe voter slip and identity card, signing on the register, gettingthe indelible ink and then informing the presiding officer that they do not want to vote. Till Monday, this year's general elections have finally ended in all 543 constituencies in five phases which beganon April 20. Counting of votes and results are expected on Thursday. Enditem