Relatively few people cite the provision of health services as a main voting issue during elections, even after the pandemic. However, this does not mean that voters do not care about health at all. file | Photo credit: The Hindu
In India, issues that feature prominently in electoral campaigns have traditionally revolved around the theme of development. Past Lokniti-CSDS data show that a majority of voters identify growth, inflation and unemployment as main voting issues during the election, and relatively few mention the provision of health services even after the pandemic.
However, this does not mean that voters do not care about health at all. We asked voters about various issues that they thought were important to improve the level of development in their area. While 31% cited jobs and employment as the most important, health was the second most important issue with schools at 17% (Table 1).
In addition, when we asked voters about their biggest concern for their own family and household over the next five years, one in five cited their own health or the health of a close family member. The biggest concern is employment (37%), but once again both education and health have emerged as areas of concern. (Table 2). This is especially the case with older voters who are more concerned about health than younger ones (29% versus 19%). In contrast young people are more concerned about employment (46% vs 30%).
Health is also an issue that is of some electoral importance. Overall, more than half of respondents said that health facilities affect their vote choice ‘to a great extent’ or ‘to some extent’ in local (56%), assembly (61%) and national elections (57%) (Table 3). Affects.
Vibha Attri and Aaliya Malik are researchers at Lokniti-CSDS