The 2024 Lok Sabha election results, have once again drawn attention to the multifaceted diversity that the Indian political landscape represents. One aspect of that diversity is the difference in the ways voters relate to parties. Despite the impression that voters are cynical about parties, a significant portion of the electorate continues to identify closely with political parties. A little less than half the respondents in the Lokniti-CDDS post-poll study expressed a sense of allegiance to one party or another (Table 1). This proportion has increased substantially over the last decade — in 2014, only 32% respondents had expressed allegiance to a party.
In tune with the multi-party composition of political competition and the presence of many State-level parties, one in every three voters who admit to being close to some party are close to a party other than the Congress or BJP (Table 2).
This discussion of party allegiance is important in view of the fact that half the voters decide their vote on the basis of party rather than the candidate or any other factor (Table 3). A little over one-third ( 36%) of the respondents stated that the candidate was the primary factor in their voting decision. This indicates that while party affiliation remains a dominant factor, the personal appeal and credentials of individual candidates also play a role in shaping voter preferences.
Party or PM?
Since the rise of Narendra Modi as leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, elections have assumed the characteristic of a presidential battle where voters are appealed in the name of the prime ministerial candidate. However, with the INDIA alliance refusing to identify any leader as its possible PM candidate, voters were less interested in this aspect of the electoral competition this time around. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 17% of voters considered the PM candidate as a crucial factor in deciding whom to vote for (Lokniti-CSDS NES 2019 post-poll). However, in the 2024 elections, this percentage has dropped to just 10%. This decline signifies the reduced impact of the prime ministerial candidate as a factor in influencing voting choice.
Among voters who expressed a closeness to the NDA, nearly half considered the party itself as their main reason for voting, while only one in every 10 respondents (9%) cited the PM candidate as a deciding factor (Table 4). Similarly, voters aligned with the INDIA alliance also predominantly considered the party as their primary voting criterion. Coupled with the fact that a large proportion of voters feel close to some party, the finding that for half the voters, party is an important consideration in deciding their vote indicates the relevance of parties to electoral choices.
The authors are researchers at Lokniti-CSDS.
