The ‘Legitimacy’ Of Data Driven Elections - II

Introduction

India’s welfare schemes touch the lives of hundreds of millions of citizens. When these citizens sign up for a government benefit, they hand over some form of personal information like their name, Aadhaar number, mobile number, bank account details and/or any other particulars. This data however, often leads into the hands of political parties. In the run up to the 2019 general elections, a Union Minister reportedly stated that “beneficiaries are present in every poor household, and their testimonies are our campaign”, describing welfare scheme beneficiaries as not just targets but a “new addition to our voter base”¹.  This was not an isolated statement. In  2021, Uttar Pradesh’s, welfare scheme beneficiaries were described by a political party as the “biggest voter class cutting across castes and communities”².