Balram uses a characteristically cynical and sarcastic tone to satirize the strange workings of Indian democracy. He is a faithful voter in that he's voted in every single general, state, and local election since he turned eighteen. And yet Balram has never actually seen the inside of a polling-booth. This...
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is because his vote, like those of so many others in this district, has been sold to the Great Socialist.
In this deeply corrupt system votes are counted before they've even been cast. Local elites shamelessly use bribery and threats to ensure that they can steal the people's votes and award them to those candidates which they think will help them once they're elected. The only way that anyone can challenge such naked corruption is by paying even bigger bribes to more judges, police officers, and election officials.