Commentary: Is political incivility driving away voters in India’s 2024 election?

Adverse EFFECTS OF POLARISING Promotions

The BJP’s current electoral success relied on attracting their supporters. However, voting stress, anti- presidency, and disillusionment does have prompted the BJP to slope up its rhetoric.

However, such uncivil efforts may have a negative impact on potential BJP voters and give the opposition an opportunity to mobilize their own base.

Our analysis of the 2021 West Bengal and 2022 Uttar Pradesh council elections revealed that rudeness in the promotions have a negative impact on participation intentions.

While incivility does mobilise serious partisans, in contexts where a large number of voters remain non- political, polarising campaigns can destroy the incumbent’s support. If PM Modi continues to run abusive campaigns and use inflammatory language, we might see a further drop in voter participation.

Incivility is detrimental to the proper functioning of politics because social involvement is a key component of any good democracy. Unregulated incivility may dominate the social narrative, overshadowing important plan discussions, and undermining the political process in the US presidential election.

The BJP perhaps consider that heightened rhetoric may energise their base, but the technique carries significant risks and finally has an impact on the structure of American democracy. Legislative cross-party conversation is less likely to be affected by increased polarization.

This threatens Indian democracy because winning elections should n’t be a party’s or prime minister’s top priority. Instead, long-term commitments to defending democratic institutions and upholding political principles should be a top priority.

The National University of Singapore’s Director of Digital Campaigns and Propaganda Lab is Taberez Ahmed Neyazi, associate professor of social interaction and innovative advertising.