 Most often high voter turnout usually is hailed as a marker for a democratically responsive nation; however, in India “the turnout rate among the poor is almost as high as for those who are either middle class or rich.A detailed study of voter participation reported for the 2009 national elections shows that voter participation rates do not seem to vary by income status at all...Recent studies report similar findings from Africa and Latin America (Bratton 2008; Boot & Seligson 2008)”.Many of these studies conclude that in developing democracies voting acts as a reassurance of social status or worth in the eyes of the state.