Electoral Participation of the Tea Tribe Community in Assam: Special Reference to Lok Sabha Election of 2019

Abstract

In a democracy Election plays a major role. Election is a means for the masses to choose their representatives freely. In India all the adult citizens irrespective of their caste, class, creed, sex and religion can take part in the electoral process. But in recent period participatory democracy has been immensely criticized on the ground that it gives less opportunity to its citizens for any significant participation in the decision making process. Consequently, under the prevailing system it is seen that the electorates have very little knowledge and understanding of political problems, corruption and misuse of power, use of money and muscle power are so rampant. If people get better opportunities of political participation they will be inclined to discuss public issues elaborately which will lead to the development of the society. Hence citizen participation is an ultimate condition for a good democracy. Tea tribe community is one of the most important ethnic groups of North-East India. In this paper, we examine and analyze the electoral participation of the tea tribe community of North-east India. We use field survey method for the study and both primary and secondary sources of data are used. The study is significant in the present day context in view of the emerging trends in the electoral politics in India in recent period.