Political campaigning in India: changing contexts of political communication

Abstract

ABSTRACT This volume focuses on the dynamic, distinctive and diverse aspects of political campaigning in India’s varied information ecosystems during the 2019 Lok Sabha election. This introductory essay reviews important research in the field of political communication and campaigning, and distinctive forms of campaigning in historically important Indian elections, before discussing innovations and technologies in political campaigning in India since the 1950s. Greater access to low-cost smartphones and the internet since 2016 has meant that in most of the states studied in this volume, social media played a larger role in 2019 than previously. This volume brings together empirical evidence in two thematic case studies–one on how parties use massive campaign rallies to impact prime-time news agendas and another on misinformation on social media – along with five case studies on the most distinctive forms of political campaigning in the varied subnational contexts of West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The concluding essay compares highlights from these case studies, discusses campaign research methods, and identifies opportunities for future research on political campaigning in India.