How Mizoram voted: Employment remained biggest concern

New Delhi, Dec 20: The surveys conducted in most states suggest that jobs are the biggest issue for the people. A survey conducted in the parliamentary constituencies of Mizoram suggested that employment continues to be main issue.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) conducted a survey in the Parliamentary constituency of Mizoram during the period of August to November 2018, covering over 500 respondents.

Mizoram Rural Issues as per importance: -

Among the top three most important issues, the data suggests that ‘better employment opportunities' was the most important rural issue with 69% of the rural respondents stating so. It was followed by ‘Better hospitals/Primary health care centres" at 55% and at third place was "Agricultural loan availability" at 47%.

While 69% of the rural respondents found ‘better employment opportunities' as an issue, only 18% considered ‘training for jobs' as an issue. This shows the clear disparity between the employment available and the skill-set in the minds of the rural people.

The agricultural-based issues are ‘Agricultural loan availability', ‘Electricity for agriculture', ‘Agriculture subsidy for seeds/fertilizers', ‘Higher Price Realization for farm products' and ‘Availability of water for agriculture' taking the third, tenth, fifth, eighth and ninth positions respectively with 47%, 32%, 44%, 36% and 35% of the rural respondents considering it as an issue respectively.

‘Better Roads', ‘Better Public Transport', ‘Drinking Water', and ‘Empowerment of Women and security' were all voted by 44%, 28%, 39% and 30% of the respondents respectively.

‘Better Garbage Clearance', ‘Reservation for jobs and education', ‘Subsidised food distribution/ration' and ‘Sand and stone quarrying/mining' were all voted as minor problems with 15%, 17%, 16% and 15% of the votes respectively.

The least important problems were ‘Terrorism', ‘Encroachment of Public Lands/ Lakes, etc.' and ‘Water, river, lake pollution' with 15%, 15% and 14% of the voters voting for them respectively.

Mizoram Urban Issues: -

The data suggests that ‘better employment opportunities' was the most major urban issue with 67% of the urban respondents finding it as an issue.

While 67% of the urban respondents found ‘better employment opportunities' as an issue, only 16% considered ‘training for jobs' as an issue. This shows the clear disparity between the employment available and the skill-set in the minds of the people.

‘Empowerment of women and security' was fourth at 36%.

The important issues are mainly ‘infrastructure-based' with ‘Better Hospitals/ Primary Health-Care Centres', ‘Better Roads', ‘Better public transport', and ‘Facility for cyclists and pedestrians on roads' taking second, third, fifth, seventh and eighth positions with 52%, 43%, 35%, 34% and 29% of the urban respondents considering them as an issue respectively.
‘Drinking Water' was sixth at 35%. It was followed by ‘Electricity for Domestic Use' at 34%.

‘Better Garbage Clearance', ‘Terrorism' and ‘Encroachment of Public Lands/Lakes' were voted as the least of the problems with only 6%, 8% and 6% of the voters voting for them respectively.

Performance of the Mizoram Government on the rural issues: -

The performance of the Government was best on ‘Strong Defence/Military' and ‘Electricity for agriculture' with an average score of 4.47 and 4.30 respectively for each of them.

The next best performance of the government was on ‘Agricultural Subsidy for seeds/fertilisers' with an average score of 4.02.

Next, the average score of the government on ‘School Education' was 3.83.

‘Electricity for Domestic Use' and ‘Better hospitals/Primary Health Care Centres' come in next with an average score of 3.57 and 3.53 respectively.

‘Empowerment of women and their security' was average at 2.91.

‘Better Employment Opportunities', ‘Drinking Water' and ‘Terrorism' were poorly performed with the respective average scores of 2.26, 2.19 and 1.77.

The worst performed sectors were ‘Better Garbage Clearance', ‘Lower food prices for consumers' and ‘Reservation for jobs and education' with average scores of 1.73, 1.53 and 1.15 respectively.

Performance of the Mizoram Government on the urban issues: -

The performance of the MP government was best on ‘Strong Defence/Military', ‘Better Law and Order/Policing', ‘Better Hospitals/Primary Health Care Centres' and ‘Mining/Quarrying' with respective average scores of 4.47, 4.20, 4.11 and 3.90.

The next was ‘Better Roads' with an average score of 3.81.

‘Empowerment of Women and Security' had an average score of 3.24.

‘Drinking Water' was relatively poorly performed and had an average score of 2.24.

The worst performed sectors were ‘Subsidized food distribution/Ration', ‘Lower food prices for consumers', 'Better garbage clearance' and ‘Terrorism' with respective average scores of 1.84, 1.46, 1.77 and 1.29 respectively.

Voting behaviour:

The survey identified the important factors that people take into account before voting for a particular candidate. Issues like whether the candidate matters the most or other issues like caste/religion of the candidate and CM candidate of the party.

The survey asked respondents about the reason they vote for a particular candidate. They were given five choices - candidate, party, party's chief ministerial candidate, religion and caste. Respondents had to rank each of these as either very important, important or not important. Taking the weighted average across respondents for each of these factors, we can gauge the aggregate importance of each of the five factors across all voters.

It is interesting that, according to the survey, the most important factor for voters is the CM Candidate, followed by the Candidate's party and the candidate. The least important factors were the distribution of cash, liquor, gifts, etc. and the Candidate's caste or religion.

Some Salient Points of the Voting Behaviour:-

1. 66% of the respondents were aware of the fact that the distribution of cash/gifts/money is illegal.
2. 35% of the respondents were aware of the instances of the distribution of cash/gifts/money/liquor.
3. 30% of the respondents were aware that they can get information on criminal backgrounds of the candidates.
4. 95% of the respondents think that people should not vote for candidates with a criminal record/arrested in jail.
5. 98% of the respondents think that someone with a criminal case should not be in Parliament or State Assembly.
6. When asked the respondents about why the people vote for a candidate with a criminal record - 15% agreed to the candidate being of the same caste/religion, 8% agreed to the candidate being powerful, 28% agreed to the candidate doing good work, 10% agreed to the cases against the candidate not being serious, 44% agreed to the candidate spending generously in the elections and 19% agreed to not knowing about the criminal records of the candidates.
7. When asked about the social influence on the votes of the respondents - 37% voted on their own, 18% were influenced by their spouse, 38% were influenced by other family members, 1% by caste/community leaders, and 4% by their friends and neighbors.

Voting behaviour:

The survey identified the important factors that people take into account before voting for a particular candidate. Issues like whether the candidate matters the most or other issues like caste/religion of the candidate and CM candidate of the party.

The survey asked respondents about the reason they vote for a particular candidate. They were given five choices - candidate, party, party's chief ministerial candidate, religion and caste. Respondents had to rank each of these as either very important, important or not important. Taking the weighted average across respondents for each of these factors, we can gauge the aggregate importance of each of the five factors across all voters.

It is interesting that, according to the survey, the most important factor for voters is the CM Candidate, followed by the Candidate's party and the candidate. The least important factors were the distribution of cash, liquor, gifts, etc. and the Candidate's caste or religion.

Some Salient Points of the Voting Behaviour:-

1. 66% of the respondents were aware of the fact that the distribution of cash/gifts/money is illegal.
2. 35% of the respondents were aware of the instances of the distribution of cash/gifts/money/liquor.
3. 30% of the respondents were aware that they can get information on criminal backgrounds of the candidates.
4. 95% of the respondents think that people should not vote for candidates with a criminal record/arrested in jail.
5. 98% of the respondents think that someone with a criminal case should not be in Parliament or State Assembly.
6. When asked the respondents about why the people vote for a candidate with a criminal record - 15% agreed to the candidate being of the same caste/religion, 8% agreed to the candidate being powerful, 28% agreed to the candidate doing good work, 10% agreed to the cases against the candidate not being serious, 44% agreed to the candidate spending generously in the elections and 19% agreed to not knowing about the criminal records of the candidates.
7. When asked about the social influence on the votes of the respondents - 37% voted on their own, 18% were influenced by their spouse, 38% were influenced by other family members, 1% by caste/community leaders, and 4% by their friends and neighbors.