Indian plurality is unique in the world. No other country can boast of having so many races, religions, castes, cultures, languages and regional diversities within its boundaries as India can. This plurality, while providing a very chequered and rich socio-cultural scenario, also impinges a few tensions that often lead to violent clashes. Since India is also the largest democracy in the world, its diversified society also influences the electoral scenario.
This book compiles research papers by social scientists to analyze the electoral behavior of communities constituted on the basis of religion, caste and region. It also presents a critique of the role of media during elections, emphasizes the need to use latest technological devices to increase the involvement of the electorates, and proposes necessary and practical reforms in the process of elections to ensure better representation.
Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Bhutan)
Foreword by S.Y. Quraishi
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Theme
1. Democracy, Electoral Behaviour and Communities as Vote Banks: A Perspective on the Indian Electoral Process
K. Srinivasulu
Religion
2. Muslim Voting Behaviour: Myth and Reality
Zaheer Ali
3. Muslim Voting Behaviour: Facts and Fallacies
Shuja Shakir
4. Communities and Voting Behaviour: A Case Study of Jains in India
Ranu Jain
Caste
5. The Dictatorship of the Past: Caste and the Problem of the Traumatic Excess
Murzban Jal
6. Caste, Dalits and the BJP’s Social Engineering
Harish Wankhede
Region
7. North-South Divide: A Study in Two Political Cultures
Rasu Chhatrapati Yadav
Media
8. The Political Economy of Elections and Media in Contemporary Times
Noorjahan Momin
Reforms
9. Partial List Based Proportional Representation: A Workable Option in Indian Elections
Jose George
10. Electronic Voting: A Leap Forward in Election Reforms
Rohidas Mundhe
Biography
Zaheer Ali is Mumbai-based academician, freelance journalist and social activist. Presently, he heads the Centre for the Promotion of Democracy and Secularism (CPDS) that is essentially committed to disseminating values such as secularism, democracy, justice, and equality. Besides contributing several research papers to leading publications, he has also written and edited several books on socio-political and literary themes both in English and Urdu.
