VOTE BANKS AND VOTE EXCHANGES

Wherever there are emotional factors - religious minorities , backward castes , castes in backward states , regionalism etc .- people act as vote banks. As the polity becomes relatively caste and class neutral, the masses act as vote exchanges - voting for those who deliver and booting out the non-dynamic ones.Ove r time , as the country develops (in particular with increasing urbanisation) vote banks will reduce ( though they 'll never vanish ) and vote exchanges will grow - esp.on the national scene.Parties seem to have realised this and are thus downplaying the emotional element in the national elec tions viz. both BJP and Shiv Sena have highlighted development as the main plank in their manifestos and not the emotional factors such as Ram temple , Art. 370 , common civil code or aggressive nationalism.

P.S :(i) No party can make two traditionally antagonistic vote banks collaborate viz. Right wing Hindus of BJP& Muslims- the moment you bring in one the other slips away- as Mulayam Singh is discovering to some extent; Likewise no party can expect cooperation from ideologically opposed vote exchanges viz.Pro- west Capitalists and the left -as Manmohan Singh found out .