What makes voters prefer a certain type of
politician? A common perception in contemporary politics holds that political
competition and campaigning have become more and more personalized over a
period of time. The trend across the globe – including India – is that the
fortune of a party will more than ever before depend on its leading figures who
run the campaign. Although the evidence for "personalization" is still broadly
said to be mixed, it appears to be a possible consequence of the ongoing
partisan dealignment and changing media logic, including increased
personalization being created through social media. But then, research has till
date primarily focused on parties, partisanship, and policy issues, at the same
time asking what the voters want from parties. Traditionally, the common answer
is that the voters expect the political parties to promote those policies which
they (the voters) support themselves or subscribe to. A general impression is
that parties tend to behave along ideological lines, which makes them
predictable with regard to stances on a variety of issues and which limits
their room to maneuver. Consequently, however, voters seek ideological
congruence with that party.
As election campaigns are becoming more and more personalized and candidates are also becoming increasingly important voting cues, a similar problem arises for politicians. This in turn has led to the question: How can a voter ensure that a political candidate will—on being elected to the Parliament or Assembly —act in his/her interest and represent him/her in the desired manner? One however cannot deny that the broader personality traits of the candidates play a very crucial and interesting role in this process. In other words, what ideology is to parties, personality is to the candidates. Just as ideology happens to represent the long-term and stable underpinnings of a political party, personality traits are also long-term and stable psychological characteristics that govern the consistent patterns of values, attitudes, and ultimately behaviour of the individual candidates, politicians who campaign for them, and the top functionaries of the different contesting political parties as a whole. What has meanwhile emerged in India is that the common people – the voters – have come to strongly realise that not everyone who wins an election and/or occupies high office is actually a leader in the true sense of the term. A person who merely coordinates the actions of others or has some management skills cannot be called a leader. Moreover, not everyone who assumes the role of a leader is actually able to play that role well. The question then is: What qualities then make for a leader?
Which virtues are required to provide ethical leadership? It appears that there is little new one can say on this matter. And, as the Assam Assembly election is fast approaching, a lot of people – yes, common people! – have started focusing on the qualities necessary for political leadership. Another question that has been asked now is: What kind of a personality should the ideal politician – the MLAs that the people want to elect – have? First thing is, to carry out leadership duties, politicians are expected to have exceptional traits that distinguish them from the common masses. As a consequence, people expect that voters, on average, design the ideal politician to hold more of those traits that are commonly associated with leadership qualities. Secondly, one can argue that voters will differ in preferred candidate traits, because they seek personality congruence with their candidates. The most important quality or trait that is expected in a good candidate or leader is his or her responsibility to take care of the interest of each person of the entire group. This often entails putting collective interest before his or her personal interest or that of his or her preferred group. For this to happen, the leader or the candidate must first be able to identify the common good, to have a grasp of what is acceptable to all, to have an inclusive vision. This requires an infinite capacity to listen to others, to learn from them, to have the intellectual ability to critically examine and evaluate what everyone wants and needs, and then put them all together. There are at least a dozen more qualities a good and successful politician – a person aspiring to contest the ensuing election – should possess. It is for the voters to look for those qualities while observing the candidates as they begin their campaign.