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Karnataka State Assembly elections are all set to take place on the 10th of May. State elections provide for a forum that is more immediate than the one furnished by the Centre. This requires the representation to accurately reflect the state's demographic composition. Let us see if this is to be the case with Karnataka.
A total of 3,632 candidates filed nominations for the May 10 Karnataka Assembly elections, as per data from the Election Commission. Of the total candidates, 304 are women and one is from the “others” category.
There were 707 nominations from the BJP, 651 from the Congress, 455 from the JD(S), 373 from the Aam Aadmi Party, 179 from BSP, five each from CPI(M) and NPP. There were 1,007 nominations by registered unrecognized parties and 1,720 by independents.
The average age for a candidate in this round of elections is 43 years - far ahead of the average age of the state itself, which is projected to be 26. Such discrepancy illustrates the actual gap in age-accurate representation in the state. This does not come as a surprise considering that Karnataka is not unique in its inability to place young people in politics. In fact, this is the trend seen in most of India.
The events surrounding these elections continue to fascinate, with the candidature of Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who at 92 years of age, has become the oldest person to ever contest elections for MLA in the state. Contesting from the Indian National Congress, Shivashankarappa is a party veteran, a five-time MLA, and has been a member of the Lok Sabha. Contending from Davanagere South, he has held complete sway for more than 50 years.
On the other end of the spectrum, a few 25-year-olds have become the youngest candidates to contest this election, toeing the line of the minimum age of candidacy itself. Hailing from Bhartiya Janta Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, and Karnataka Rashtra Samiti, they give hope to Karnataka’s 2.1 crore youth who are vying for more authentic representation. These young hopefuls include Sunil Rathod (KRS candidate from Babaleshwar), Rakesh Ingalagi (KRS candidate from Bijapur City), Jaanashekhar K (BSP candidate from Gurmitkal), Bharati (BJP candidate from Chittapur), and Mahammad Kaleem (BSP candidate from Davanagere South).
However, there is a clear disconnect in proportionate political representation in terms of sex. Even though the state has a sex ratio of 973 females per 1000 males, women’s options to vote for a candidate who understands their disposition are scarce. Newcomers Aam Aadmi Party have the most number of women candidates contesting in the state, even though only 14.5% of its candidates are female. This ratio is even more abysmal in other parties, with the Bahujan Samaj Party clocking in with the lowest number of female candidates as only 4.1% of the total number of candidates are women.
The candidature of an incumbent represents the reinvestment of their party’s faith in them, even though the same feeling may or may not be shared by the voters. BJP has the highest number of incumbent candidates in the Karnataka state elections with 39.9% of its candidates being incumbents. Whereas, both Karnataka Rashtra Samiti and Bahujan Samaj Party are only backing fresh candidates.
Incumbency brings experience and reputation to the table. At the same time, incumbents tend to be the most divisive according to the varying reception and perceptions of their previous activities. With an anti-incumbency wave sweeping through the country in the past year across local, state, and national-level elections, it will be interesting to see how many incumbents successfully hold onto their power.
Elections in Karnataka have also been plagued for a long time with the problem of urban voter apathy. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said that compared to the 72.44% voter turnout during the 2018 Assembly elections in the state, the four divisions in Bengaluru - BBMP South, North, Central, and Bengaluru Urban - had polled only around 55%. It is worth noting that over 88% of the 8,615 polling stations in these four divisions (across the 28 Assembly constituencies) are in urban areas. Similar trends were seen during the 2013 and 2008 state elections.
“Apathy in the urban electorate is a trend observed in elections across the country. What is worrisome is that the voting percentage in urban areas has been decreasing over the years. It was seen in the States of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, which went to polls last year. In the 2019 general elections, the urban constituencies - Hyderabad, Patna Sahib, Secunderabad, Kalyan, Pune, Thane, Mumbai South, Kanpur, and Allahabad showed a similar trend,“ Mr. Kumar told the Hindu.
If we further contrast the above with the distribution of Karnataka’s youth population (defined as those between the ages of 15 and 29) across the state, we find that the highest numbers are seen in Urban Bengaluru with 21.73% residing in the area. This area remains far ahead of the other in terms of youth concentration with the runner-up being Belagavi at only 7%. At the same time, the rural district of Kodagu (or Coorg) has the lowest proportion, accounting only for 0.69%. The highly dispersed youth population of the state requires an equitable approach toward mobilizing youth-centric voter turnout.