Everything ready for the election: A woman puts the finishing touches to a traditional rangoli in the Indian city of Chennai. The floor painting made from colored powders is intended to encourage citizens to take part in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Image: dpa
Political culture is completely different: In India, the parties have a lot of power because they intervene directly everywhere, without going through the official channels. Now a billion people are being called to the polls there.
AOn April 19, the “largest democratic elections of all time” begin, namely for the Indian parliament, the Lok Sabha, based in New Delhi. Almost a billion people will cast their votes on seven election days over a period of around six weeks. An immense apparatus is set in motion; the challenges to logistics can only be guessed at. But what do elections and everyday politics mean for the majority of the population, the “ordinary” people in the countryside and small towns? Is it just a spectacular major event for them every five years?
While in Central European countries one can lead a politically disinterested and inactive life without being disadvantaged professionally and generally socially, people in India are dependent on the support and support of a party, preferably the ruling one. Especially the poorer sections of the population, who do not exercise social influence through education, profession, money or land ownership, need the parties to provide a little security for their lives and to receive the rights and benefits to which they are entitled. The party is the refuge of the common people after the state administration, the police and the courts do not listen to them, look down on them or even harass them.
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