Assembly Elections Research Articles

A Study on the Voter’s Subjectivity Tendencies in the 22nd National Assembly Election

A Study on the Voter’s Subjectivity Tendencies in the 22nd National Assembly Election

Voters’ Perspectives on Climate Change Issues in the 22nd National Assembly Election

Voters’ Perspectives on Climate Change Issues in the 22nd National Assembly Election

‘해결’ 전야에 4·3연구가 던져야 할 질문들 - 22대 국회 4·3특별법 개정안을 사례로

Ahead of the 22nd National Assembly elections, there had been a renewed push to amend the 4.3 Special Act. Shortly after the elections, the first bill proposed by the elected representatives with ties to Jeju was adopted as an amendment of the 4.3 Special Act, and it was proposed at the start of the 22nd National Assembly. This paper generally agrees with the common evaluation and stance that continually updated legislation will promote a ‘complete resolution’ and a ‘just resolution.’ Nevertheless, the purpose of this paper is to observe the symptomatic phenomenon of ‘resolution’ and to seek out research questions. In particular, by critically examining the issues that re-emerged around the 22nd National Assembly elections, the paper seeks to identify the questions that were overlooked in the process. The heightened effort to amend Article 2 (Definition) of the 4.3 Special Act ahead of the elections primarily focuses on changing the term ‘riot’ to ‘uprising.’ However, by not including the term ‘victim,’ which was a product of a riot-oriented historical perspective, in the amendment list, the approach has the limitation of not attempting to differentiate itself from the 20th and 21st National Assembly, which did not change ‘riot’ to ‘uprising.’

An ethnography of voting in the Punjab elections 2022 as social practice: Liminal spaces of symbolic change

ABSTRACT The paper attempts to look at the factors leading to the victory of the Aam Aadmi Party which have not been taken up by the traditional political analysis. Making an ethnography of the Punjab assembly elections 2022 in the Malwa belt of Punjab, it chronicles the social and cultural impact of the farmer’s movement, particularly its far-reaching impact on changing the mood of the electorate. The paper also focuses on the novel digital election campaign which resulted in new election outcomes from the past trends and a massive victory for the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab.

Voting Behaviour and Perception in Mizoram Legislative Assembly Elections

Voting Behaviour and Perception in Mizoram Legislative Assembly Elections

A study on the state legislative assembly elections in Odisha (1952-2024)

A study on the state legislative assembly elections in Odisha (1952-2024)

ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN INDIAN POLITICAL COMMUNICATION: A STUDY OF CORPUS LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL NARRATIVE ON TWITTER DURING KARNATAKA ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2023

This study examines the political communication strategies applied during the Karnataka Assembly elections on May 23, 2023, with a specific focus on the Twitter (now X) as a platform. The Karnataka Assembly elections held notable importance for the then ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), as it aimed to consolidate its political influence in southern India in preparation for the upcoming 2024 general elections. The Indian National Congress, as the opposition party, perceived this as a favourable circumstance, as the voters appeared to be divided as a result of the presence of numerous influential local leaders who were not in sync with the ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This study utilises the Corpus linguistic methodology to examine the data obtained from the social media platform, Twitter, where political campaigning has become a significant strategy for achieving political mileage in India. This study conducts an analysis of the tweets shared by significant political actors throughout the campaign season for the Assembly elections, with a focus on examining the precise influence exerted by these tweets on the political discourse. The findings serve to reaffirm the resilience of the Indian democracy, as the electorate has demonstrated their capacity to differentiate and discern between matters of online debate and those that hold local significance. The study provides additional evidence to support the notion that the Twitter platform serves as a virtual space for political expression and the exchange of varied perspectives. However, it is important to note that these expressions and ideas may not necessarily translate into immediate influence on voting behaviour.

South Korea Navigating 2023 amid Inter-Korean Tensions and Domestic Political Challenges

In 2023, South Korea, under President Yoon Suk-yeol, strengthened its alliance with the United States and improved relations with Japan, culminating in the Camp David trilateral summit. However, inter-Korean relations deteriorated, with North Korea adopting a more hostile stance. Domestically, Yoon faced significant challenges, including economic struggles and political gridlock, as the opposition-controlled national assembly blocked major legislative initiatives. The April 2024 national assembly election was crucial for the Yoon administration, weakening its ability to carry out major policy initiatives for much-needed reforms and creating further friction not only with the opposition parties but within his own ruling party.

Implications of Vote Buying on Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: A study of the 2023 National Assembly Election in Ebonyi Central Senatorial Zone

Implications of Vote Buying on Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: A study of the 2023 National Assembly Election in Ebonyi Central Senatorial Zone

22대 국회의원 선거구획정의 측정과 평가

22대 국회의원 선거구획정의 측정과 평가

Party Politics in West Bengal: Historical and Contemporary Dynamics

Party politics in West Bengal is a complex and ever-evolving phenomenon deeply rooted in the state's socio-cultural history. This overview explores the dynamic landscape of party politics in West Bengal, tracing its historical evolution and examining the key players, ideological underpinnings, electoral strategies, and socio-economic factors that have influenced voter preferences over the years. From the pre-independence era's freedom struggle to the contemporary political dynamics dominated by the All-India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), West Bengal's political journey reflects its vibrant cultural mosaic and socio-political complexities. This paper also discusses the current scenario in West Bengal, highlighting the role of various political parties in recent local and assembly elections. The methodology involves a comprehensive review of academic papers and journals on various aspects of West Bengal's politics, governance, and societal dynamics. While existing literature touches on governance-related aspects like healthcare policies, decentralisation, and power sector reforms, there is a research gap in integrating these elements to provide a holistic assessment of West Bengal's governance model. The paper identifies this research gap and calls for a more comprehensive study that explores the interplay of political decisions, decentralisation efforts, and policy reforms in shaping the state's development and governance outcomes.

Social Media Use and Impact on Voters and Candidates in Kerala

This article presents a comprehensive survey of social media usage among Kerala voters across three parliamentary constituencies ( N = 1500). It explores the socio-economic factors influencing both online and offline political engagement and sheds light on how social media empowers younger voters by reducing their reliance on traditional influencers. Kerala’s social media trends align with those of developed nations like the USA, in contrast to broader Indian digital and gender divide indicators. The study also delves into the social media strategies of 280 successful candidates in the April 2019 Kerala Legislative Assembly elections, identifying the key factors influencing their electoral success. Notably, Facebook engagement metrics, such as shares and followers, emerge as more significant predictors of candidate winnability than Twitter metrics. The research highlights the profound impact of social media on political communication, perception, youth participation and candidate strategies, ultimately shaping electoral outcomes in Kerala. This study addresses a critical research gap regarding social media use among Kerala voters and the reciprocal strategies adopted by candidates, including the predictive impact on candidates’ performance.

CHUNAV: Analyzing Hindi Hate Speech and Targeted Groups in Indian Election Discourse

In the ever-evolving landscape of online discourse and political dialogue, the rise of hate speech poses a significant challenge to maintaining a respectful and inclusive digital environment. The context becomes particularly complex when considering the Hindi language—a low-resource language with limited available data. To address this pressing concern, we introduce the CHUNAV dataset—a collection of 11,457 Hindi tweets gathered during assembly elections in various states. CHUNAV is purpose-built for hate speech categorization and the identification of target groups. The dataset is a valuable resource for exploring hate speech within the distinctive socio-political context of Indian elections. The tweets within CHUNAV have been meticulously categorized into “Hate” and “Non-Hate” labels, and further subdivided to pinpoint the specific targets of hate speech, including “Individual”, “Organization”, and “Community” labels (as shown in Figure 1). Furthermore, this paper presents multiple benchmark models for hate speech detection, along with an innovative ensemble and oversampling-based method. The paper also delves into the results of topic modeling, all aimed at effectively addressing hate speech and target identification in the Hindi language. This contribution seeks to advance the field of hate speech analysis and foster a safer and more inclusive online space within the distinctive realm of Indian Assembly Elections.

Exploring The Social Factors Influencing Voting Behavior in 2019 National Assembly Elections in Gombe State, Nigeria

Exploring The Social Factors Influencing Voting Behavior in 2019 National Assembly Elections in Gombe State, Nigeria

The Influence of Sexism and Incivility in WhatsApp Political Discussions on Affective Polarization: Evidence from a 2022 Multi-Party Election in India

In contemporary political discourse, the concern of affective polarization, often fueled by uncivil and sexist discourse, is notably evident in digital communication contexts like WhatsApp. In this study, we examined the potential effects of uncivil and sexist messages as well as moderator interventions against these messages coming from political in- and out-group members in such political groups through a survey experiment ( N = 1,464) fielded during the 2022 Uttar Pradesh (India) Legislative Assembly Elections. We investigate these questions and extend the prior work on affective polarization by introducing a new measure of Average Inter-party Affective Distance, which provides a single metric to index overall polarization in a multi-party election context. Our results showed that exposure to sexist uncivil messages had no discernible effect on affective polarization, political participation, and voting intention. Additionally, moderator warnings against incivility had no significant effects. However, we observed a variation in how respondents processed these messages based on their preexisting attitudes; notably, individuals with less sexist views were more inclined to vote after being exposed to sexist uncivil messages. These findings suggest that the influence of incivility and sexism in messaging platforms like WhatsApp on the wider electorate’s political behavior and attitudes is relatively limited. This research contributes to our understanding of the role of digital political communication, highlighting the importance of message content and preexisting individual differences in shaping affective polarization and mobilization.

Why do voters elect criminal politicians?

Voters across the world are often complicit in electing bad-quality legislators to political office. This problem is particularly salient in India, where candidates accused of criminality often succeed at the polls. Why do voters show a willingness to cast their ballots for candidates accused of wrongdoing? Using primary individual-level voter survey data from the Bihar 2020 state assembly elections, this paper examines whether ethnic voting can explain this surprising voter behavior. Contrary to voter preference theory, I find that voters exhibit a stronger negative response to candidates accused of criminality when they belong to their preferred ethnic party. Voter support for the non-ethnic falls by 89.2% for violent charges. Coethnicity further reduces electoral support by 67% for violent criminals. This pattern holds regardless of the voters’ level of news consumption, political knowledge, education status, and income. These findings suggest that the electoral success of criminal politicians could be attributed to other factors such as a lack of proper institutions or lower state capacity rather than the voters’ underlying ethnic preferences.

Electoral Politics and Struggles for Accountability

This review essay focuses on electoral politics and the African accountability struggle, which has gained interest and scholarly attention following the third wave of democratization. Before the Namibia Constituent Assembly elections in November 1989, many would agree that elections were neither acknowledged nor considered appropriate for selecting governmental and national leaders. However, the democratic wave in the early 1990s marked a substantial political shift in Africa. Elections, once rare, are now frequent, serving as a crucial tool for both development and accountability. In this new era, citizens have a rare opportunity to hold their leaders accountable and exert control over their behavior. This review specifically addresses two volumes: Electoral Politics and Africa’s Urban Transition: Class and Ethnicity in Ghana by Noah L. Nathan and Elites and the Politics of Accountability in Africa, edited by Wale Adebanwi and Rogers Orock. Specifically, these volumes delve into topics concerning electoral politics and Africa’s challenges in achieving accountability.

Election results can decrease intergroup threat and through that positively affect intergroup relations

AbstractPrevious research has established that intergroup threat is pivotal to intergroup relations in divided societies. We used the Northern Ireland Assembly Elections in 2022 as a unique chance to investigate how elections can affect feelings of threat and intergroup relations between communities with a history of violent intergroup conflict. We argued that because of their conflicting goals, if Sinn Féin (i.e., a Republican party that promotes a united Ireland) gains more votes than the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP, i.e., a party promoting Northern Ireland's union with the United Kingdom), it would threaten DUP supporters and vice versa. We assessed whether participants supported Sinn Féin or DUP relatively to each other, intergroup threat, and intergroup bias before and after the elections (N = 285). Following an election outcome where Sinn Féin gained more votes than DUP, Sinn Féin supporters showed decreased feelings of threat which in turn decreased their intergroup bias. DUP supporters, the party that received fewer votes, showed no changes in their feelings of threat or intergroup bias. This research highlights how electoral results affect intergroup relations in postconflict societies.

THE KEYBOARD WAR: EXPLORING BJP VS. CONGRESS RHETORIC ON X DURING THE 2021 ASSAM ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS

This paper attempts to understand the election rhetoric of the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in X during the Assam Assembly Election, 2021. The election was marked by intense political rivalry and diverse campaign methods. The growing use of social media has made it crucial for political parties today to establish a positive presence on these platforms. Political parties employ various strategies to appeal to voters in order to achieve this. The study collected X posts from both the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party to analyse the discourse on social media during the Assam Assembly Election, 2021. The posts were analysed and themes were identified utilising the six-step guide by Braun and Clarke. The study found that both political parties endeavoured to undermine each other while seeking to persuade the audience in their favour. The study illustrates a contrast in using X for election discourse between the two political parties. The results contribute to the wider field of political communication by offering valuable insights into the dynamics of electoral campaigns in a region known for its complex identity politics and rapid socio-economic shifts.

Left Political Parties of Assam: Challenges and Prospects

The left political parties of Assam are playing a vital role in the election politics which have participated in Parliamentary and Assembly elections since independence. During the long journey of election politics of India and Assam, the left parties are passing through a trajectory mode where their support base quite satisfactory up to 1978. Later, the support base is reduced tremendously with decline of vote sharing. Being the ideologically strong political parties, the left have lost its support from the electorates due to certain shortcomings. Thus, this paper is an academic exercise to identify the factors responsible for the chronic decline of left political parties in Assam’s electoral politics. Further, this study is intended to identify the prospect of left political parties of Assam in future elections. The prospects leading to revival of left parties of Assam in the future are considered important because of the success of democracy. The conglomeration of different factors prominence to revitalize the Marxist ideology against capitalist system is still considered relevant today. Hence, to study the challenges and prospects of left political parties’ in Assam, an analytical approach is used to verify the facts. It is hoped that an in-depth study on electoral politics of left political parties of Assam will certainly tap the research gap on the issue and will provoke further empirical study on the subject.