Re-nationalization of India’s Political Party System or Continued Prevalence of Regionalism and Ethnicity?

Christophe Jaffrelot (1)

1 CERI - Centre de recherches internationales (Sciences Po, CNRS)

The Congress Party's victory in India's 2009 general elections led to claims of a re-nationalization of the political party system and to increasing issue-based voting. This article demonstrates that, to the contrary, the fragmentation of India's political party system and the electorate is still increasing and that “ethnic voting” continues to prevail over issue-based voting.

Keywords: General elections; ethnic voting; class voting; regional parties; regionalization

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Sociology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Political science

Christophe Jaffrelot. Re-nationalization of India’s Political Party System or Continued Prevalence of Regionalism and Ethnicity?. Asian Survey, 2011, 51 (6), ⟨10.1525/as.2011.51.6.1090⟩. ⟨hal-03569393⟩