ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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Electoral Contests in MP, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan

Using poll data from the last four Vidhan Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, three findings are distilled in this article. It is noted that the 2018 elections were of great significance in all three states in terms of breaking from the trend of the previous three elections, which makes 2023 even more consequential.

Meghalaya Assembly Elections 2023

The possibility of another hung assembly in Meghalaya looms large with no single party apparently looking capable of winning a majority of seats and no prepoll alliances so far. It is a matter of conjecture whether there will be a fractured verdict paving the way for another coalition or a decisive mandate will emerge ushering in major qualitative changes in the new ruling dispensation.

An Assault on Democracy

The onslaught against freebies is yet another attempt to disempower the poor.

Religious Polarisation Outweighs Ethnic Mobilisation

The Assam assembly elections continued the trend towards deepening of religious polarisation in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s alliance strategy helped in retaining its hold over the ethnic base that had shifted to the party in 2016.

Making Sense of the Manipur Assembly Election Results

It is argued that it would be naïve to explain the Bharatiya Janata Party’s success as a wholehearted endorsement of its Hindutva agenda as there are substantial local reservations on this. Unlike Uttar Pradesh or other parts of North India where it aggressively pushed its Hindutva agenda, the BJP knows the limitation of this agenda and has instead used a combination of strategies like the promise of development and peaceful settlement of armed conflicts. These electoral strategies intersect with and are driven by a set of factors that, in turn, determine the BJP’s success: first, the increasing electoral insignificance of the Congress, and second, the continuing salience of complex and cross-cutting social cleavages.

 

Political Communication and Its Discontents

Contradictions between ideology and symbolism were quite evident in the recent state elections.

Political Reservation for OBCs

The reluctance of the ruling state government of Maharashtra to conduct an empirical inquiry into the backwardness and refusal of the union government to share the Socio Economic and Caste Census data of 2011 has resulted in a conundrum over the Other Backward Class es reservation in the local self-governance bodies. The responses of the ruling state government and the opposition to the retention of the OBC reservation are explored. The impact of this decision on the OBC politics is also analysed.

In Search of a Strong Opposition

Dreamscapes that provide an alternative to right-wing politics cannot be imagined but need to be realised.

 

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