AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ON ‘IS VOTING BEHAVIOUR CONDITIONED BY CULTURAL NORMS IN INDIA’? EXPLORING VOTER’S CHOICE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO BENGALURU: A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY

Indian society is the amalgamation of various races, religion, language and so on and has a strong cultural background though diversity is evident. Being a secular country, each person, regardless of their religion, culture, or ethnicity they belong to, they possess freedom to vote. Being one of the largest democracy and ranked as the second most populated country in the world, India widely encourages political participation of the citizen which is apparent in the way elections are celebrated as an occasion. Indians voting behaviour is influenced by their way of life majorly their cultural attitude, set of beliefs and values. This paper focuses on why people tend to vote and the determinant cultural factors that influence the voting behavior. The study conducted implemented both qualitative and quantitative in nature. Questionnaires were framed in both structured and unstructured manner. The study population comprises of respondents above 18 years of age and who are eligible to vote. The study implemented stratified random sampling technique. Complete responses were collected from 286 respondents. The study indicated that the variables employed and analyzed in the study were all interrelated and has an impact on the voter's behaviour. The present study further reveals that culture is a way of life adopted by the Indian citizens and all activities have an impact of the culture they possess. Hence the voting behaviour too has a cultural impact.