ELECTION WIN AND TERROR ATTACKS

Nowadays to damage and threaten democracies, the terrorism is become a biggest challenge to the world. It’s damage the legitimacy of the state. By analysing the electoral mandates, we can get a better understanding of how citizens reward or punish governments in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. Along with better understanding of how terrorist’s actions do corrosive effects on the legitimacy of democratic systems. Does terrorism turn voters against governments, or do citizens “rally around the flag”? Understanding the relationship between terrorist attacks and electoral behaviour is key to find how terrorism impacts democracies.

By nationally and regionally available date, if we analyse casual effects of terrorist violence on electoral behaviour then we can observe that the terrorist attacks are more likely to increase civilians participation in democratic elections. But not to change their vote choice. Terrorism has been theorized to have a significant impact on democratic regimes because the electorate might induce policy changes including concessions to terrorists to put an end to terror attacks. In order to response to the terror attacks, citizens might punish incumbent governments. From an individual point of view, what are citizens’ electoral reactions to terrorist attacks? Social science research has documented that direct exposure to violence and its associated trauma can induce individuals to engage in politics to overcome trauma. Some existing studies suggests that terrorist attacks will lead to changes in the direction of the vote either increasing support for right-wing parties or leading to a punishment of the incumbent governments regardless of their political leaning.

If we overview Russia terror attacks in September 1999, then we come to realised effects and efforts made on electoral win. On the night of 4^th September 1999, truck bomb had exploded Buynaksk housing of Russian soldiers and their families. A five storey building broken down into rubble. In that terror attack sixty four people had lost their lives. On 9^th september 1999, an eight-story apartment building on Guryanova Street was blown up with explosive devices in moscow city’s southeast region. The explosion had destroyed eight storey building. As that incident had claimed ninety four Russian people death. On 13^th september 1999, 6/3 Kashirskoye building blasted with planted explosives in basement with one hundred and twenty one Russian civilians death. Within the few days span around three hundred russian citizens had lost their life in terror attack. This had leads to panic within russia at that moment.

A lots of political vicissitude had happened just few days before the first terror attack on Buynaksk. In early August 1999, president Boris Yeltsin had appointed his third prime minister in less than three months. He was a virtually unknown to the Russian public, named Vladimir Putin. On 31^st December 1999 , Boris Yeltsin announced that he was stepping down from presidency effective immediately which made Vladimir Putin acting president. Being the acting president Vladimir Putin had investigated september 1999 terror attacks with the help of Federal security forces(FSB) and came to conclusion that it was handiwork of Chechen terrorists. After that conclusion, the Russian air force launched air strikes on Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. With in few days, Russian battalions were deployed on border to cross over Chechnya to start second Chechen war. By March 2000, riding a wave of popularity for war policy on terrorist attacks had mandated to win Mr. Vladimir Putin in presidential election with fifty three percentage votes. The political era of Vladimir Putin had begun which Russia never experienced before.

After the March 2000, further information of September 1999 terror attacks had stunned everyone in the world by one’s declaration in American Congress. In 2003, John McCain declared in American Congress that “there remain credible allegations that Russia’s FSB [Federal Security Service] had a hand in carrying out these attacks.” In October 2006, Anna Politkovskaya, Russia’s leading investigative journalist and someone who had written extensively on the connections between the FSB and Chechen “terrorists,” had been shot to death in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building.

In India, on 14^th February 2019, suicide bomber of Jaish-e-Mohammed had martyred forty CRPF soldiers. On 26^th February 2019, Indian air force did air strikes in Pakistan territory. Since the prime ministerial election going on from 11^th April 2019, the question remains in one’s mind that Is it the PM Modi and his bharatiya janata party stepping down the same strategies which president Vladimir Putin did aftermath september 1999 terror attacks in Russia? Is a pulwama terror attack politicised for election leaning?