How to increase voter turnout in India?

Abstract

India is known for being the largest and one of the oldest democracies in the world. The founders of our constitution decided to adopt a parliamentary system of democracy, and that has been actively implemented till today. The decision to implement Universal Adult Franchise right from the first general election can be seen as a critical step in establishing a thriving democracy. Universal Adult Franchise, an elementary principle of democracy, facilitates the right to vote for all adult citizens irrespective of income level, religion, caste, literacy, gender, and colour. By adopting this system, we were able to preserve the spirit of democracy. When the constitution came into force on 26th Jan 1950, the minimum voting age was set at 21 years. It was later modified to 18 years in 1989 through the 61st constitutional amendment act. The voting rights allowed all the citizens to come forward and decide about whom to elect. This made the people absolute political sovereigns with the power to make or break governments. On a global scale, very few countries had universal suffrage right from the beginning. For instance, the United States introduced voting to all male adults with ages above 25 years in 1925 and all adults irrespective of gender in 1945. It took many years for countries like South Africa (1994), Switzerland (1990), and Brazil (1985) to adopt universal adult suffrage. As of Jan 2023, 21 countries have laws related to mandatory voting to improve voter turnout, which is a crucial element of a thriving democracy. When they removed compulsory voting, voting turnout reduced from 95% to 80% in the Netherlands (1967) and 82% to 61% in Venezuela (1993). In the case of India, the highest voter turnout was 67.1% in the 2019 general elections, which is very far from 100% voting. Despite adopting Universal Adult Franchise, there was a massive disconnect between the election process and voters. There have been instances where people do not enrol as voters, view election day as another holiday, or think one vote does not change anything. It is high time to bring a fundamental change to realize the necessity of the voting process and the power of every vote in building our nation's future. When compared to the time of the first general election, voter turnout had increased significantly. But it is still low and needs the attention of everyone. In a vibrant democracy like India, people must participate actively in voting and exercise their rights.