INDIA@75: A Changing Electoral Democracy

Description

People are the bases of a democracy whereas elections are the faces of a democratic polity. Examining the relationship between elections and democracy, the book attempts to study the transformative nature of India’s electoral democracy during 75-year of its working.

Amidst celebrating ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav‘, the book highlights the changing politics and the political cultures as manifested in transforming nature of parties and party systems from 1950s till contemporary times, thus covering the First Lok Sabha election to the Seventeenth Lok Sabha 2019 amidst continuities, conformities and changes in India’s electoral landscape.

Marking a shift from Nehru’s Modern India to Modi’s New India, the book underlines the realigning vote, voter and voting at the backdrop of transcending issues and narratives along with changing modes of electioneering that have shaped the nature of government on the one hand and democratic governance on the other. Presenting India’s electoral democracy from the perspective of new directions, dimensions and developments linking it to nation’s key democratic upsurges with new conceptualizations, theorizations and generalizations, the book could be seen as a Grammer of Indian Polity.

Sunil K Choudhary is a Professor of Political Science and Director [Honorary}, Centre for Global Studies [CGS] at University of Delhi. Prof. Sunil has an outstanding academic record, research publications and nearly a three-decade teaching experience at the University of Delhi. A Gold-Medalist from University of Delhi, a Post-Doctoral Fellow from Tel Aviv University, Israel and a Commonwealth Fellow at the University of Oxford, U.K., he has written extensively on contemporary issues like communalism, secularism, party systems, democracy, governance, human rights, Diaspora and corruption.

He has to his credit at present 7 Books, 53 Research Papers and 310 Research Publications and Presentations, the last book titles, The Changing Face of Parties and Party Systems: A Sutdy of Israel and India was published from Springer and Palgrave in 2018. As an expert/examiner/editor, he has been associated with various premier institutions in India and abroad and has been featured prominently in electronic and print media, particularly the Sansad TV and All India Radio during national and state elections.

He is the pioneer of psephological studies at University of Delhi under CGS Samiksha covering assembly/municipality surveys of various States and Union Territories since 2017.

He is the recipient of various national and international awards, including the prestigious Global South Award, 2014 and Prof G Ram Reddy IPSA National Awards, 2018.