People’s Voting Behavior In Local Election: A Study On Annadanagar Union Parishad , Pirgachha , Rangpur.

Abstract

Voting is the main form of political participation in democratic societies and the study of voting behavior is a highly specialized sub-field in political and social science. The study was concerned with the reasons why people vote the way they do. The main objectives of the present study were to find out the factors why some citizens vote while others do not, comparing the voting behavior of the casting and non-casting voters and the influences of socioeconomic and political determinants of voting behavior of the local people. That study has diagnosises the inner catalyst behind the changing trend of voting behavior in democratic form of local self-government in local area in Bangladesh. The changing pattern of voting behavior influenced by both political and non-political variables .Socio-economic factors also responsible for changing mode of voting behavior in rural election and also in case of national election, it also varies to casting voters and non-casting voters. Voting behavior has many determinants such as demographic factors like age, education, gender, and occupation etc. and. Socio-politico and economic factors such as, political ideology, party affiliation, candidates 'qualification, family affiliation etc. which had strong effect on voting decisions ,this study specifically explored the relationship of voting behavior with the socio-politico and economic determinants. As survey area I have selected Annadanagar Union Pirgachcha,Rangpur which is a typical Union in Bangladesh which represents most of the Union of Bangladesh. To know about the voting behavior of the local people towards local elections a sample of 200 respondents were selected randomly from Annadanagar Union through multistage sampling technique. Mainly this study is qualitative but to make the study more explicit the quantitative method also used. And the interview was taken through open-ended and close-ended question. The findings of study have consistency with the set objectives.