Maha civic polls: Survey finds 84% voters favouring young candidates

As Maharashtra gears up for  the upcoming elections meant to appoint elected representatives to civic and local bodies, a voter survey conducted by a Pune-based institute has found that 84 percent of the electorate would like their candidates to be less than 40 years of age.

The nomination process for elections to the municipal councils and nagar panchayats was started on October 24. The actual polls are scheduled to take place in four phases from November 27 to January 8, 2017.

With a view to gauge the voting pattern in the upcoming elections, the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune carried out a voter perception survey in 18 municipal councils and nagar panchayats across the state. According to the collected data, researchers found that a "youth wave" seems to have gripped the electorate.
 

The institute has collaborated with the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Maharashtra Election Watch (MEW) to disseminate the findings of the voter perception survey and help the electorate make an informed choice.

"84 percent of the voters would like candidates to be less than 40 years of age. The young voters are especially emphatic about being represented by young candidates.

"78 percent of voters express disappointment that most candidates contesting the local body polls are not even matriculate, whereas a thumping 92 percent would like to see degree-holding candidates representing them in the coming elections," said a statement issued by MEW, a non-profit organisation working on electoral reforms in the state.

The voter perception survey analysed responses from 5100 respondents during the month of October. The respondents were mostly from semi-urban areas.

Among the survey's "sombre" findings, research suggested that 84 percent of voters felt that contesting candidates do not have the requisite community building experience required to carry out developmental work at local bodies. While 86 percent of respondents believed that contesting candidates hailed from politically influential families.  

It also revealed 83 percent of voters wanting their constituency to be contested by candidates with a developmental experience.

Among the most desired characteristics, voters further said that they would want their candidates to be accessible, educated and capable of representing ward-level issues of voters in local body meetings.