Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/223918 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13476
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We examine how political participation and political competition are shaped by two class-based extensions of the franchise in 20th-century India. Creating a new dataset of district level political outcomes between 1921 and 1957, we find that the partial franchise extension of 1935 resulted in significantly lower incumbency advantage, while the institution of universal adult suffrage in 1950 resulted in increased candidacy. Both these franchise extensions resulted in decreased voter turnout rates, suggesting that newly enfranchised voters are less engaged in the political process.
Subjects: 
democratization
colonial rule
India
franchise extension
political participation
political competition
JEL: 
D72
N45
P16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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