In a year in which 64+countries are holding National Elections, India's historic elections were declared on June 4. Widely viewed as a triumph for democracy itself, the elections represented the exercise of electoral power and independent thinking of the nearly 650 million people who went to the polls. Several Princeton faculty affiliated with the Chadha Center for Global India have provided insightful commentary on the election results which saw Prime Minister Modi's ruling party now forming a coalition government, a resurgence of the opposition and a clearer picture of the priorities of the people.  In an Opinion Article in the Indian Express, Professor Atul Kohli, highlights that the winner in this election is India's democracy itself. Kohli writes of the limitations of Hindu religious identity politics and the challenges in delivering prosperity for the common man in a largely unequal economic growth story. Twin opinion articles by Professor Pratap Banu Mehta, (here and here), also at the Indian Express highlight the critically important role of the elections in preserving political balance in India. His second article presents a sobering reminder that despite their limits, the politics of welfarism and identity politics are likely to continue to be adopted by all politcial parties becasue of the immense challenge of delivering long-lasting development to India's many milions who still live in poverty. Professor Tanushree Goyal discusses the historically high representation of women at the polls and as pollworkers, and, in an earlier article, unpacks voter responsiveless (or lack thereof) to development projects like roads. An earlier article by Professor Gyan Prakash, Dayton Stockton Professor of History provides important background on caste in India, wherein Dalit voters and politicians in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh were pivotal in the gains made by India's opposition coalition.

Beyond the election results, our Center seeks to highlight the mammoth scale of India's elections, implemented in three phases across cities, towns, villages, forest-, mountain- and island-communities all over India, that are requried to bring the ballot to within 2 kilomenters of every single one of India's 960 milion eligible voters. Matching the immense effort in bringing the ballot to every single eligible voter (see an informational video here), and notwithstanding the results themselves, is the incredible 67% voter turnout, nearly equal among men and women, that truly makes India the world's largest democracy.