What Does India's Democracy Show?

I think that the most fascinating countries to study in the world are the two democracies India and the United States. The reason being that the first was based on an idea and represents a very bold early experiment with freedom and consent by the governed. India, on the other hand was already a very large country and one with a large but poor population when it was formed as a republic in 1947. With almost a threefold growth in its population, India is today rightly considered as the world's largest experiment with democracy.

While I think that India's democracy is still growing and imperfect, I am impressed with the fact that this large country retains the urge to ensure popular voice in public affairs and especially in the appointment of its leaders. As any reader of this blog would probably be aware, elections in India are due. As this article in the Guardian states, it is still a miracle that its people are very enthusiastic about the elections.

Most impressive is the cost of the elections and the logistical arrangements that holding elections that qualify as such require. Consider that nearly 1 million electronic voting machines have been procured for the voting that will stretch over five phases over four weeks. Of the more 820,000 polling stations that have been situated across the country, it has been calibrated to ensure that no vote bearer is more than 2 kilometres from any one.

No wonder many large and small nations fear representative democracy because the basic institutional competence that is required to deliver a proper election of any size is very high. That Indian citizens are determined to maintain the experiment is part of my confidence that in the long term, India will most probably be one of the leading economies in Asia. No one should underestimate the capability of a country whose number of voters is twice the entire population of the United States. In addition, my estimate based on the most populous democratic countries in the world suggests that the number of voters in India is closer to all voters in the world's most 10 populous democracies put together.