Thread by @shrikanth_krish

A startling fact on women's suffrage and democracy -

Switzerland, one of the wealthiest countries on earth, granted women the right to vote in federal elections, as late as 1971.

I repeat 1971!

Even this expansion of suffrage was not by fiat, but through a popular referendum wherein 66% of Switzerland's men approved of the suffrage's expansion

A contrast to India which granted universal suffrage at the inception of its nationhood

The Indian decision was ratified neither by referendum nor through a popularly elected body, but by the Constituent Assembly - comprised of indirectly elected and nominated representatives

Before 1952, the biggest election exercisein India was ofcourse the provincial elections of 1937, wherein we had a limited adult franchise based on property qualifications among other things.

What if we had started at that level of franchise in 1952, and gradually widened it to include all men and then all women through either popular referendums or parliamentary acts?

We might have reached "universal adult franchise" in that scenario by maybe 2000.

But that would have been a more genuinely democratic approach to franchise expansion. Driven by changes in the underlying social realities, and less by elite visions of how democracy ought to be.

Such a phased approach may have also meant a more competitive democracy during the first four decades of independence.

The Congress party may have found the task of getting to 272 much harder if the franchise was limited to property owning population (maybe 10%) in 1952

While Congress still would have been the most dominant party, it would have had much stiffer competition from both Swatantra and the Jan Sangh in the 50s-60s under a more limited franchise

It would have also greatly reduced the pressures of populism on policy making