Votebank

Template:EngvarBTemplate:Short description A votebank (also spelled vote-bank or vote bank), in the political discourse of India and Pakistan, is a loyal bloc of voters from a single community, who consistently back a certain candidate or political formation in democratic elections. Such behavior is often the result of an expectation of benefits, whether real or imagined, from the political formations, often at the cost of other communities. Votebank politics is the practice of creating and maintaining votebanks through divisive policies. As it encourages voting on the basis of self-interest of certain groups, often against their better judgement, it is considered harmful to the principles of representative democracy. Here, community may be of a caste, religion, language, or subnation.

Etymology

The term was first used by noted Indian sociologist, M. N. SrinivasTemplate:Sfnp in his 1955 paper entitled The Social System of a Mysore Village.Template:Sfnp He used it in the context of political influence exerted by a patron over a client. Later, the expression was used by F. G. Bailey, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, in his 1959 book Politics and Social Change,Template:Sfnp to refer to the electoral influence of the caste leader. This is the usage that has since become popular.

Examples

Some of the first identified votebanks were along caste lines. Others based on other community characteristics, such as religion and language, have also occurred. Votebanks are generally considered undesirable in electoral politics. For example, Template:Harvcoltxt argues that votebanks based on either caste or religion stand in the way of secularisation. Template:Harvcoltxt identifies accusations of votebanking as a rhetorical tool used by Hindu nationalists in complaints about special rights or privileges granted to non-Hindus in India. Other examples include:

• In 1989, the Badaga people of South India petitioned the Indian government to be recognized as an official tribe, demonstrating en masse on 15 May of that year to imply the strength of the Badaga votebank.Template:Sfnp

• In 1985, Rajiv Gandhi acted against Shah Bano judgement under influence of Muslim conservatives.

Remedy

Some argue that the Votebank politics can be disabled by limiting the provisions of Tenth Schedule of Indian Constitution to a few critical issues.

See also

• Ethnocultural politics in the United States
• Client politics
• Clientelism
• Constituency
• Indian politics
• Identity politics
• Electoral system
• Political campaigning
• Social disintegration
• Blocks of Five
• Red states and blue states
• The Muslim Vote
• Ethnic party

Further reading

• Shourie, Arun (2012). Falling over backwards: An essay on reservations and judicial populism. New Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers. Template:ISBN
• Syed Ali Mujtaba, ‘Monolith India’ and the vote bank, Himal South Asian, 2004

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