New Delhi: “Better employment opportunities” is the top priority of Indian voters and they are unsatisfied with the government’s below average performance, reveals a survey conducted by election watchdog – the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The survey, released on Monday, said the government’s performance score on the top 10 voters’ priorities is below average. The other top two voters’ priorities, “better healthcare” and “drinking water” were also rated as below average.
“This evidently indicates that the voters are unsatisfied with the government’s performance. The government needs to prioritise and invest more particularly in these sectors,” it said. “On better employment opportunities, which is the top priority among voters, the performance of the government has been rated as one of the worst (2.15 on a scale of 5).”
The ADR conducted the survey between October 2018 and December 2018 covering 534 Lok Sabha constituencies, in which 2,73,487 voters spread among various demographics participated. The three main objectives of this survey were to identify voters’ priorities on specific governance issues, voters’ ratings of the government’s performance on those issues, and factors affecting voting behaviour.
“It is quite clear from the top 10 voters’ priorities that Indian voters’ prioritise — employment and basic amenities (such as healthcare, drinking water, better roads) — lie above all governance issues (including terrorism and strong defence/military),” it said.
“This indisputably is a result of prevailing governance deficit in these sectors that is causing deprivation to the average Indian voter besides also leading to the denial of their fundamental rights such as right to live with human dignity as embodied in the Article-21 of the Constitution.”
