But while errors in the voters’ list are an important issue and staying away from voting as a sign of protest cannot be discounted as a crucial factor, this alarming trend merits deeper analysis. A contradiction stares us in the face. At one level, delimitation has responded to the urbanisation that Karnataka has witnessed over the years. The seats allotted to Bangalore city have risen from 16 to 28. The city now accounts for just over 12 per cent of the state legislature. But the increase in the seats has not resulted in a corresponding rise in the enthusiasm of the urban middle class voters.

What about all those Bangaloreans whose names were very much on the voters’ list but who did not turn up at the polling booths? It appears to be a cost-benefit analysis. The educated middle class voters in Bangalore city seem disinclined to line up at the polling booth fundamentally because they are convinced that they can get their problems resolved without assistance of their elected representatives. They have the resources — financial and in terms of networks — to get their problems resolved. They barely need to know, much less meet, their elected representative.

Further, globalisation and privatisation have resulted in important decisions that involve the lives of the common people being influenced not by the state but by private players and the market. This has contributed to the diminishing importance of ‘government’ in the lives of urban Bangaloreans. So why vote?

... contd.