Electing the Ruling Party and the Opposition: Voter Deliberations from Sangam Vihar, Delhi, Lok Sabha Elections 2014

Abstract

On the basis of an electoral ethnography done in an urban periphery of Delhi, this article presents an interpretive account of Indian national elections 2014. At a time when sovereignty travels to a locality—in this case an unauthorized settlement known as Sangam Vihar—how do people deliberate on the act of voting? Sangam Vihar also faces severe segregation and restrictions on access to services such as water on account of its illegality and it’s being ‘off’ the city’s authorized master plan. In a locality such as this, how do its marginal citizens act in context-bound ways? What do they make of the larger national phenomena, such as the national elections, as it plays out in their neighbourhood? Listening to people’s responses on issues they consider important as they are about to make their decision, following political rallies and meetings and interviewing political actors, the author put together voices in three ‘arenas’ or sites of democracy. These arenas are more of a heuristic device and help at once aggregate what the author hears. They help the author to present an idea of democracy, where citizens assert their differences to create a plural public sphere.