Despite a 10% decline in voting across the world, India reversed the trend by hitting the 65% mark
India, USA and Indonesia to island nations like Tuvalu with 11,000 population. Citizen voters, in over 70 countries, millions of them first timers, attempted to address their own situations at the voting booths.
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The last of the national elections came this Sunday in Chad in central Africa amidst an opposition boycott.Universal suffrage remains the spine that holds a dithering democratic fabric whose other ingredients are in constant debate. BR Ambedkar linked elections to political democracy, ushering conditions for equality and justice. But if elections are undermined by impurities, process glitches, fake narratives, boycotts, competing claims, street protests, violence or even abandoned midway, that could be the proverbial last nail. The Stockholm-based International IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance), in its report 'Global State of Democracy 2024', points to a certain erosion of credibility of elections compared to five years back, owing to declining turnout and other pathological conditions. The experience in India's neighborhood as elsewhere has been mixed at best.
Declining interest
Elections continue to be democracy's beautiful action play, especially the view of ordinary folks queuing up to vote. The average turnout of voters in elections this year is estimated to be at 61%. During the 15 years from
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