Indigenising Election Studies in India

Elections are fundamental for the functioning of a successful representative democracy. People exercise their sovereignty, and the governments draw their legitimacy through the operationalisation of elections (Singh 2021: 4). Elections remain integral to the survival and resilience of any democratic system. The Constitution of India under Article 324 provides for an independent election commission to conduct free and fair elections in India. The Election Commission of India has conducted some of the largest and longest drawn elections in the world (Ahuja and
Ostermann 2021). It has conducted 17 national elections along with more than 370 state assembly elections which have contributed immensely to the deepening of electoral democracy in India.

Despite glaring social and economic inequality, successive moments of elections witnessed enthusiasm among the electorate coupled with an increase in voter turnout. The 1st Lok Sabha elections witnessed a voter turnout of 46% and it increased to 65% during the 17th Lok Sabha elections held in 2019. The rise and consolidation of political democracy in India categorically chides viewpoints which remained critical about the adoption of democracy in a deeply divided and hierarchical society in 1947.