In Goa, the candidate always matters more to the electorate than the party. The same trend was visible in the 2022 assembly elections as well. In a post-election poll of CSDS-Lokniti, nearly two-thirds of voters said they considered the candidate when casting their vote. This is an increase of nine percent compared to 2017. This explains the instability of voter loyalty to parties. On the other hand, nearly three out of every 10 (29%) voters said the party was more important to them than the candidate.
When voters said that the candidate was more important than the party, what qualities of the candidate were they looking for? Of those polled by candidates, close to three-quarters said they assessed the candidate’s work or performance, while seven in 10 (69%) said they focused on the candidate’s educational qualifications. Another three-fifths (58%) said they consider the candidate’s personality.
In the main question on the basis of voting, caste emerged as an important factor for voters when casting a vote – in fact, compared to other states where elections were held. But once voters preferred the candidate over the party, many did not say they looked at the candidate’s caste – or so they claimed. Caste or religion becomes the least preferred characteristic of the candidates (Table 1).
Aam Aadmi Party and Revolutionary Goa Party got many votes on party lines, irrespective of their candidate. In the case of those who voted for other parties, the party’s candidate was more important than the party’s candidate. For seven out of every 10 voters of the Congress, along with the Trinamool Congress and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party alliance, candidates were more important than any other factor during voting (Table 2).
The Bharatiya Janata Party fared relatively well among those who voted along party lines. His gap on the Congress narrowed among those who voted on the basis of the candidate. The emphasis on candidates on the party was greater in South Goa than in the North. Incidentally, the Congress fared well among candidate-centric voters in South Goa (Table 3).
Jyoti Mishra and Chanda Rani are researchers at Lokniti-CSDS