The recently released book titled, “Political Participation and Political Attitude: A study of Mokokchung District” by Dr. E. Benrithung Patton, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Fazl Ali College, reveals that high voting participation alone does not indicate political participation.
The author in his study establishes that only certain socio-economic factors have an effect on voter turnouts.
The author introduces the readers to the various concepts of political participation and continues with the understanding that political participation refers to the activity that is designed to have an impact on governmental decision making and actions.
To understand the various socio-economic factors that prompt an individual to participate politically, the author studied 15 polling stations under 5 assembly constituencies with respondents from the 2014 electoral roll of the selected polling stations.
The sampled assembly constituencies were 21 Tuli AC, 22 Arkakong AC, Angetyongpang 24 AC, 27 Mokokchung Town AC and 29 Jangpetkong AC.
To understand the nature and patterns of political participation among voters in Mokokchung district, the study was carried out on the basis of socio-economic variables such as: Age, educational qualification, occupational status, marital status, gender and place of residence.
The study finds that the highest voting turnouts came from those of age group 45-59 (93.02%) and the lowest was recorded in between 18-29 years (80%). The low rate of participation from the youngest age group was assumed to be due to lack of political knowledge, lack of experience in political participation and the prioritization of non-political activities such as obtaining education and occupation.
Voting participation was found to be highest among the lower educational group (under matriculate) with 89.47% participation and the lowest turnout was from the graduate category (83.33%). It was also revealed that those under matriculate appear to have attended the election meetings/rallies at the highest rate. Surprisingly, the non-literate respondents were also found to be the most active in contacting political leaders/candidates.
Accounting for discussion of politics with others as another mode of electoral participation, the study reported that it was the older respondents (60 years and above) and the under-matriculate who happened to discuss politics more frequently while the middle aged respondents and the highest educated respondents were among the lowest. Thus, owing to all these factors, a concrete conclusion on the relationship between political participation and educational variables was ruled out.
Another significant study was done on ‘Marital Status’. Married people were found to participate more in the political process (89.56%) as compared to the unmarried ones (82.92%). The reasons attributed to this were likely because of peer pressure, spouse motivations and interpersonal influences within the family that motivates them to participate in the voting.
The studies under ‘gender’ found that both male and female respondents’ turnout were in high numbers for voting; however, the males voted slightly more (92.38%) than the females (80.20%).
The study also ruled out any significant association between occupational status of the electorate and voting participation as the respondents in the self-employed and cultivator category were found to be the most active participants (90%) in the poll while the lowest turnout was found to be from the unemployed category with 83.46%.
Since the majority of the population of Mokokchung district lives in the rural areas, majority of the votes was found to be from rural areas (95.89%) as compared to urban areas (88.69%).
Thus, contrary to many western studies which have indicated that the socio-economic status has a lot to do with voter turnout, the study presents that socio-economic status is only partially responsible such as in the case of marital status and gender.
It also highlights the manner in which the voters vote; the relationship between political trust and political participation and contextualizes the political arena in the traditional level.
In conclusion, the book makes an expansive contribution to the academic discourse and to the citizens in understanding the patterns and extent of political participation in Mokokchung district.