The introduction of universal adult franchise stabilised democratic rule in India and endowed the Indian government with unchallengeable legitimacy against any military intervention, violent revolutionary upsurges or secessionist movements.
It has led to a trickle down effect in poverty alleviation. While poverty has not been eliminated as fast as it should have been, it has come down from over 60 percent at the time of Independence to 22 percent 60 years later, though the population has tripled.
The universal adult franchise has led to progressive empowerment of women, though the country has still a long way to go to achieve gender equality.
The impact of universal adult franchise in India is felt in terms of steps taken to eliminate untouchability, measures adopted to provide equal opportunities to hitherto backward classes and scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Universal adult franchise and free and fair voting are the ultimate guarantors of minority rights. Since universal adult franchise and free and fair elections enable changes of governments through non-violent democratic means, and have been demonstrated to work in the Indian system, violent insurgencies do not get critical mass support.
Democracy based on universal adult franchise and free and fair elections has taken deep roots in India, as was demonstrated when Indira Gandhi was voted out at the end of 19 months of Emergency. Decentralisation in democratic governance introduced by Panchayati Raj is still at an incipient stage. As Indian rural prosperity increases and infrastructure develops, the governance scope and the resources of such local bodies will increase, conferring the full benefits of universal adult franchise to the population of India.
When the issue of adult franchise was debated in the Constituent Assembly, many senior leaders had doubts on the wisdom of adopting it. Many advocated imposing minimum educational qualifications. Fortunately, wisdom prevailed and universal adult franchise was adopted. Otherwise this nation would have been divided into the literate and the illiterate. There could have been attempts at perpetuating the dominance of the literate over the illiterate. But for this decision, India could not have been a Republic with all citizens having equal rights.
Photograph: Women hold up their voting cards as they await their turn to vote at a polling station in Majitha, some 27 kilometres from Amritsar. Photograph: Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images
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