{"title":"To take or not to take: is the freebie culture in Tamil Nadu elections a threat to Indian democracy?","authors":"Sudarsan Padmanabhan","doi":"10.1080/02185377.2021.1951783","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The fulcrum of democracy is the electoral process. If the integrity of the electoral process is compromised then the very notion of representation becomes vacuous. In states such as Tamil Nadu in Southern India, distribution of money and promise of freebies has reached alarming levels with elections being countermanded several times. In this scenario, the danger to the system of parliamentary democracy and the Indian republic cannot be gainsaid. Therefore, this article analyses whether the people of India, especially in states like Tamil Nadu, are really concerned about governance or do they cynically participate in the evisceration of democratic electoral and political process, which is the moot point. The answer is complex and nuanced. People are concerned about governance but vote strategically due to systemic malaise. Despite being plied with allurements in the form of cash and other freebies, people, in the final analysis, vote on the basis of the performance of the government.","PeriodicalId":44333,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Political Science","volume":"29 1","pages":"215 - 237"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2021-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02185377.2021.1951783","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asian Journal of Political Science","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02185377.2021.1951783","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"POLITICAL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
ABSTRACT The fulcrum of democracy is the electoral process. If the integrity of the electoral process is compromised then the very notion of representation becomes vacuous. In states such as Tamil Nadu in Southern India, distribution of money and promise of freebies has reached alarming levels with elections being countermanded several times. In this scenario, the danger to the system of parliamentary democracy and the Indian republic cannot be gainsaid. Therefore, this article analyses whether the people of India, especially in states like Tamil Nadu, are really concerned about governance or do they cynically participate in the evisceration of democratic electoral and political process, which is the moot point. The answer is complex and nuanced. People are concerned about governance but vote strategically due to systemic malaise. Despite being plied with allurements in the form of cash and other freebies, people, in the final analysis, vote on the basis of the performance of the government.
期刊介绍：
Asian Journal of Political Science ( AJPS) is an international refereed journal affiliated to the Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University. Published since 1993, AJPS is a leading journal on Asian politics and governance. It publishes high-quality original articles in major areas of political science, including comparative politics, political thought, international relations, public policy, and public administration, with specific reference to Asian regions and countries. AJPS aims to address some of the most contemporary political and administrative issues in Asia (especially in East, South, and Southeast Asia) at the local, national, and global levels. The journal can be of great value to academic experts, researchers, and students in the above areas of political science as well as to practical policy makers, state institutions, and international agencies.
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