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The Thirteenth Election of India's Lok Sabha (House
of the People)
Contents
[Introduction]
The Pivotal
Factor: State-Level Parties and Their Alliances
Party Characteristics: Geographic Spread, Membership, Leadership
A
Foundation of Consensus: Economic and Foreign Policy
Why Voters
Vote the Way They Do:
Social and Economic Identity
Social Ties, Particularly Caste
Class Identity
Perennial Elections Issues
Loyalty to Leaders and Party
"What Have You Done For Me Lately?"
The "Anti-Incumbency" Factor
Voting
Behavior
Trends
and Scenarios of the 1999 Election
Foreign Policy
Economic Performance
Atal Behari Vajpayee versus Sonia Gandhi
The Anti-Incumbency Factor
State-Level Political Dynamics
Congress versus BJP
Outcomes
- Appendix 1: Chronology
of Events
- Table 1: Perception
Table 2: Party Alliances in 1999 by Seats Won in 1998 and State
Appendix 2: Major
Parties
Specialists
About the Author
Philip Oldenburg is Associate Director of the Southern Asian
Institute at Columbia University, where he also teaches in the political science department. He is coeditor (with
Marshall Bouton) of India Briefing: A Transformative
Fifty Years, and has edited or coedited earlier volumes
in the India Briefing Series. He has published, among other articles, "Pollsters, Pundits, and a Mandate to
Rule: Interpreting India’s 1984 Parliamentary Election" (1988), and "Corruption as an Issue in the 1989
Lok Sabha Election in India" (1992). His current research is on the grassroots foundations of state legitimacy
in India.
The Asia Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public education organization dedicated to increasing American understanding
of the more than 30 countries broadly defined as the Asia-Pacific region. Through its programs on current events,
business, the fine and performing arts, and elementary and secondary education, the Asia Society reaches audiences
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The Asian Update series is published by the Policy and Business Programs division of the Asia Society. The Updates
provide incisive background and analysis of newsworthy issues and events in Asia and U.S.-Asia relations for a
wide audience of journalists, business executives, policymakers, scholars, and others interested in Asia.
Recent Asian Updates include:
Indonesia's 1999 Elections: A Second Chance for Democracy,
Edward Masters (May 1999)
The Asian Economic Crisis: Policy Choices, Social Consequences, and the Philippine Case, Linda Y. C. Lim, Frank Ching, and Bernardo M. Villegas (February 1999)
Hong Kong: The Challenges of Change, Jeffrey Fischer
and Hugh J. Ivory, Yi-zheng Lian, and James T. H. Tang (May 1998)
India's 12th National Elections, Ashutosh Varshney
(February 1998)
The Asia Society is prepared to assist journalists by providing briefings by telephone and in person, additional
background materials, and help in identifying specialists on Asia for consultation or broadcast appearances.
The opinions expressed in this publication are the author's and do not necessarily represent the views of the Asia
Society.
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