Andhra Pradesh State Legislative Assembly Elections 2009: Participation and Performance

The elections are quite important because the electorate makes crucial decisions affecting the nation. The electoral outcome, in reality, determines as to who will manage the affairs of the government and makes suitable public policies. The selection of leaders could be regarded as a political process through which the people with their ability are made to assume political power. It is equally true that the political elite may not always act as they promise, but the choice of elite provides a form of popular control of policy outcomes. The General Elections and voting is regarded as the most obvious means of influence because it enables the general public to select political leaders / elite who represent their opinions, and continue to decide the destiny of the people or the government for the next stipulated term. Therefore, democracy is regarded as another form of „vox populi‟. The citizens also control the government officials, correspond through the media, engage themselves in various forms of political participation, and thereby the general public involve themselves in a variety of formal and informal methods of political discussions and articulating their points of view on the manner and method of functioning of the government .In this paper an attempt is made to analyze the electoral participation and trends in 2009 Andhra Pradesh State Legislative Assembly. These elections assumed prominence as the Indian National Congress (INC) regained for second consecutive term after 35 years.