More than half of respondents (51.1%) said they were motivated to vote because the candidate was good. , Photo Credit: Nagra Gopal
While political parties lay stress on their vote banks, a baseline survey commissioned by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Karnataka indicates that political party sympathies are a marginal motivating factor for voters to participate in elections. Is.
A team of researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) led by S Madheswaran, professor and head of the Center for Economic Studies and Policy at ISEC, surveyed 4,452 people from 45 assembly constituencies spread across 23 districts.
The Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) Baseline Survey captures respondents’ attitudes towards the 2023 election as it reflects their motivations and influencing factors. The survey revealed that party sympathies are a motivating factor for 4.4% of respondents. This aspect was found to be more important in urban areas at 5.6% as compared to 3.2% in rural areas.
The survey shows that at an overall level, a large proportion (79.3%) of respondents reported that the most important reason for voting is that they consider it their right or duty.
‘good’ candidate
More than half of respondents (51.1%) said they were motivated to vote because the candidate was good. Other important motivations included: “I got registered on the voter list” (13.1%), “the candidate was of my choice and was from my community and religion” (6.9%); “I wanted to defeat a particular candidate and/or a political party (5.4%). Respondents were given multiple choice questions.
Men are more influenced by friends, with 5.8% reporting that they voted because they were influenced to vote, compared to 3.8% among women. While 3.1% of the respondents said that they cast their vote because of threats or pressure, 4.5% said that they voted because the head of their household asked them to vote.
senior citizens vs youth
Among senior citizens (respondents aged 61 years and above), voting as a right/duty (84.2%), followed by selection of a good candidate (55.3%) were the two primary reasons for participating in the election process, as Survey shows. On the other hand, voting due to threats or coercion (0.5%) and being influenced by free offers of money or alcohol were the least likely reasons for this group of respondents to obstruct voting, according to the survey.
BP Vani, associate professor at the Center for Economic Studies and Policy, ISEC, who co-authored the survey, said young voters in the age group of 18 to 25 years give relatively little importance to casting their vote. Citing surveys, he said only 71.2 per cent youth voters participated in the electoral process as against 97.7 per cent senior citizens. “This is despite all efforts by the Election Commission to raise awareness among the youth,” he added.
no id card
Lack of electoral ID card was a major reason for 64.7% of eligible voters not voting in elections. After voter slip was not received as they did not belong to that particular assembly, 20.5% of the total respondents cited the reason for not casting their vote, he said.