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The first article of the series yesterday dealt with the relative strength of the various political parties in Tamilnadu in terms of the proportion of votes they are likely to get in the forthcoming elections for the Assembly and Parliament. In this article, we discuss the popular image of the political leaders and the various parties.

One often takes for granted that national leaders, like Mrs Indira Gandhi and Rajaji, are widely known in Tamilnadu except in a few isolated villages, perhaps. However, in a village near Acharapakkam railway station, we found that hardly any one had heard of the national leaders, and we were told that there are scores of such villages in Chingleput district itself. This led us, in this survey to ask the voter whether he had at least heard the names of the political leaders. In the list, we have included the name of Mr Sivaji Ganesan since he is now actively working for the Old Congress.

Among the most well-known leaders of Tamilnadu are Mr M. G. Ramachandran, M. Kamaraj, Mr Karunanidhi and Mr Sivaji Ganesan. About 19 out of 20 voters of Tamilnadu have heard of them. Putting it differently, about 4 per cent of the voters have not even heard the names of MGR and Mr Kamaraj. This is an indication of the conditions of life in our State. About 6 per cent of the voters have not heard of Mr Karunanidhi and 12 per cent Mr Nedunchezhian.

Mrs Gandhi is unknown to 15 per cent of the people, and Rajaji to 23 per cent. For the Communist worker, it is, perhaps, the party which counts more than the leaders, and 47 per cent of the 1,500 voters interviewed have not heard of Mr Kalyanasundaram, the CPI leader.

Ignorant Voter

We found that of the 1,500 odd voters we surveyed, 92 had not heard of Mr Karunanidhi. Does this figure represent primarily voters above 60 years of age? No. Of the 92 people, only 15 percent are over 60. One hundred and eighty one persons in our sample had not heard of Mrs Indira Gandhi. Who are these people? About 80 per cent of them come from small villages with a population of less than 5,000. It is not just the old people of these villages. It is both young and old, male and female from rural India who have not even heard the name of our prime Minister. 

The voter was asked whether his voting behaviour would be affected or not by appeals made by the different leaders. This question was necessary in the light of the electoral alliances, due to which a party man may be asked to vote for another party which he does not approve of.

Forty per rent of the voters will be influenced by appeals made by MGR, 39% by Mr Karunanidhi and 33% by Mr Nedunchezhian. There are a few party men whose party loyalty is stronger than their loyalty to the leaders that they say they will not be affected by statements made by the party leaders. Thirty nine per cent of the voters will be affected by Mr Kamaraj whereas 32% by Mr Sivaji Ganesan. Fifty five per cent of the voters say they will not be affected by Mr Ganesan's appeals.

About 15% of the voters are likely to be influenced by Rajaji, whereas 56% are not. Twenty two per cent of the voters say that they will be influenced by Mrs Gandhi's appeals whereas 56% will not be. Only 10% of the voters say they will be influenced by Mr Kalyanasundaram's appeals.

Corruption

During the elections, charges and countercharges are made against various parties about alleged corrupt practices and we wanted to know what the ordinary voter thinks of the different parties. He was asked whether corruption would go up if certain major parties came to power again. Often, a person was willing to vote for a party even if he thought that corruption would increase.

Corruption would increase, 24% of the voters declared, if the DMK came into power. The corresponding figure for the Old Congress is 21% not dramatically different from the figure for the DMK. The figures for Swatantra are lowest  with 12% followed by the New Congress and the Communist Parties getting about 15%. One wonders whether the more powerful a party is, the greater its chance of being corrupt and thought of as corrupt, in Tamil nadu.

Will any party work for the welfare of the middle class, if voted to power? No, according to almost all our voters. According to 25 per cent of the voters, Swatantra will work for the rich if voted to power -- a statement which may not surprise many. What is really surprising is that 18% per cent of the voters think that the Old Congress will work for the rich. Perhaps in the rural areas, the Old Congress is working through landlords. The image that DMK has built up is such that only about 4 per cent of the voters think that it is a rich man's party.

About 50 per cent of the voters think that  the DMK will work for the welfare of workers and poor, and "all". The corresponding figure for the Old Congress is around 40 per cent. Some of the voters had barely heard of certain parties that they had no opinion in the matter.

Policy, Not Money

Often, a general charge is made against political parties that they work mainly for their own welfare. According to the voters, the DMK comes first (23 per cent), the Old Congress second (12 per cent), and the New Congress third ( 8 per cent). The image of the different parties often changes due to intense propaganda just before the elections, and the change is often reflected in the change of loyalties in the last minute.

What are the factors that influence the voters most? For 90 per cent of the voters, it is the party policy. Only 8 per cent of the voters declare that distribution of gifts and money, and threats that influence them most on their voting behaviour.

These findings are based on the sample survey taken during the first week of February when the election campaign had just started.

TABLE I
POPULAR IMAGE OF POLITICAL LEADERS
Voting behaviour will be affected by appeals made by the following political leaders:

	Yes	No	Not heard of	others
Karunanidhi	38.9	49.1	05.9	6.1	100
Nedunchezhian	32.7	49.5	11.6	6.2	100
M. G. Ramachandran	39.6	48.9	04.0	7.6	100
Sivaji Ganesan	31.8	55.2	05.9	7.0	100
Kamaraj	38.7	50.9	04.3	6.1	100
Indira Gandhi	21.9	56.7	14.6	6.8	100
Rajaji	14.2	56.4	22.8	6.6	100
Kalyanasundaram	08.8	39.2	46.8	5.3	100

TABLE II
POPULAR IMAGE OF POLITICAL PARTIES
The following parties, if voted to power, will work for the good of

	All People	Workers and poor	Middle class	Rich	Its own	No opinion	Administration will be more corrupt
D.M.K.	25.8	23.2	3.1	3.6	22.6	21.8	23.8%
Old Congress	28.6	12.1	4.7	17.9	12.2	24.4	20.7%
Swatantra	6.2	1.8	2.6	24.6	5.4	59.4	11.7%
New Congress	10.5	10.8	3.9	6.2	8.3	60.3	14.7%
Communists	3.7	13.8	0.8	0.6	4.7	80.2	15.7%