Editorial Note
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231205899 |
| Author | Suhas Palshikar |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
Editorial Note
Since the first issue of 2022, we have been including specially planned sections/articles in commemoration
of the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. As explained earlier, while the journal ordinarily also
devotes to analyses of various aspects of India’s politics, the completion of 75 years of independent and
democratic existence does require a more critical and focused look at the Indian polity and overall
political experience of the past more than seven decades. This is also an occasion to revisit analyses of
ideas, histories and institutional processes. Therefore, we are continuing with this practice of devoting a
special section to the discussion of one particular aspect of India’s politics.
In the present issue, we are happy to present a special section discussing what all we know about the
‘Indian Voter’. As the Introduction to this special section argues, the Indian Voter is an enigma.
Nevertheless, Lokniti’s available data sets from 1996 Lok Sabha elections as well as the rich pre-1990s
data from the Data Unit of the CSDS make it possible for scholars to attempt some generalizations.
Papers in this special section have tried to do precisely that. Rajeshwari Deshpande and Sandeep Shastri,
both members of our editorial management team, helped in bringing together these papers for the special
section. Rajeshwari Deshpande has also extended valuable help in contextualizing the papers through the
section Introduction. We thank both of them for this. It is hoped that the special section will generate
more nuanced discussions about voting patterns and theorizations about various demographic and
political factors in explaining Indian politics.
Suhas Palshikar
Studies in Indian Politics
11(2) 169, 2023
© 2023 Lokniti, Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies
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DOI: 10.1177/23210230231205899
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