India Goes to the Polls: The State Elections and Beyond

Over November and December, assembly elections have been held in five Indian states: Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan. These elections are taking place in the midst of one of the most hard-fought national election campaigns in India’s history, which is leading up to the general election in spring 2014. Observers are watching the state elections and their results, due on December 8, closely, looking for answers to a number of questions: What might the 2013 results suggest in terms of the outcome of the 2014 national elections? Which issues and candidates are resonating with the electorate? Are crowds at election rallies translating into votes?

On December 18, The India Project at Brookings hosted a discussion on the results of the state elections and their implications, what they might or might not indicate about national politics, and what lies ahead in the run up to the national elections in 2014. Panelists included Sadanand Dhume, resident fellow at American Enterprise Institute, and Milan Vaishnav, an associate in the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Brookings Fellow Tanvi Madan, director of the India Project, moderated the discussion.