It is a known fact that in a democratic set-up how do voters exercise their franchise to vote goes a long way with regard to how accountable the next government is going to be. In fact, the progress of a democracy is very much dependent on the right choices being made by the voters during the course of an election. In this regard, it becomes pertinent to dwell upon the various reasons which enable a voter to vote judiciously. The question is, what all factors enable a voter to vote in a rational manner during an election? This needs to be explored particularly in the case of such democracies like India which is not as much evolved (on the virtue of being relatively new) as compared to say the USA or Britain.
The first premise of accountable voters is an educated populace-- not necessarily through formal education exclusively (although literacy is very important) but through communication of policy platforms and ideas in a clear and precise manner. If voters have been misled, or misunderstand, they may not vote consistently with their interests.
Obviously, however, there is some incentive for political parties to mislead their voters. They will use emotional or social appeals to push beyond rational voting behaviour and into tribal behaviour: associating their party with ideas like "goodness," "righteousness," or "family." They may also do the opposite, making voters associate their opponents with emotionally negative ideas.
Arguably, the best way for voters to be informed is for a functionally neutral source to report on the platforms of the parties. This should be delivered in clear, accessible, easy-to-understand language, probably not more advanced than the primary school level.
India has grown as a democracy over the years but frankly there are innumerable instances when the vote is on other basis rather than informed choice of the voters. many factors - caste, religion, region etc. come into play. In the process sometimes well educated and good candidates are rejected by the voters in favour of those who are corrupt, fighting elections despite cases against them and so on.
To this add the God man's of the land who exhort/influence their followers to vote for a particular candidate.
Sometimes vote is for the party and not person who is fighting so a wrong person maybe elected even if the party is right.
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