Gilles Verniers
The author is assistant professor of political science, Ashoka University.
Articles By Gilles Verniers
How to read December 11
These assembly polls saw conventional campaigns. Congress counts on anti-incumbency, not its own story
Absence on the bench
Except that the professionalism of the judiciary tends to decrease as one climbs down the judicial institutional ladder.
The dwindling minority
Drop in Muslim representation in legislatures is related to the rise of the BJP.
What Kairana means
What looks like an ideological battle from afar, BJP vs Rest, is an accumulation of local factors on the ground.
Gorakhpur in perspective
What do SP-BSP victories in UP by-polls prefigure for 2019? Not much
Constructing Democracy
What went into the makings of India’s democracy and the crucial role of bureaucratic cogs, big and small, in defining citizenship
Reading Gujarat verdict: Rural-urban divide underlined, Congress gains for future
The BJP has fallen short of the 150 seats promised by Amit Shah. More worryingly for the party, no regional leader has emerged.
Caste of characters
In Gujarat, religious polarisation remains a dominant theme. And caste is back, in a different version
The Gujarat difference
BJP successfully occupied the space of a regional party in the state. Congress strategy is still made in Delhi.
Tweedledee, tweedledum
Lines between Congress and BJP are regularly crossed in Gujarat. The BJP gets the advantage
Upper hand for upper castes in House
The return to power of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh has led to a resurgence in the representation of the upper castes. The new Assembly consists of 44.3% upper caste MLAs, 12 percentage points more than in 2012, and the highest share in UP Assemblies since 1980.
The rise of the floating voter
UP election confirms that caste-centric strategies of parties have been rendered less effective.
The rise of the floating voter
With 39.7 per cent of the votes and 75.7 per cent of the seats, the BJP scores the best performance recorded by any party in Uttar Pradesh since the Janata Party victory in 1977.
The lawmakers we need
Women outvote men in many states, but gender parity in Parliament and assemblies eludes India.
Backward, forward
UP campaign shows regional parties are courting cross-sectional appeal and the personality cult.
The bicycle and other stories
Party symbols are not just convenient signifiers. They serve as vehicles for political identity and style.
In it for the short haul
Few Uttar Pradesh MLAs get to serve more than one term. This has consequences.
UP assembly is more representative of various castes than it used to be
UP assembly shows politics has become more diverse in terms of caste, more homogeneous in class.
The good crisis
In the long run, the rift within SP may make space for a clearer leadership and direction in the party.
Samajwadi Party, family, continuity
The emergence of Akhilesh Yadav as a popular leader is an indicator of the same-old in the SP, not a break from the past.
