Duvergerian Dynamics in the Indian States

Empirical research on voting in electoral districts in single-member, simple-plurality electoral systems has demonstrated the general validity of Duverger’s law. This article shows that while the law is generally valid for state assembly elections in India, there are exceptions. In a significant number of electoral districts, more than two parties secure votes. We attribute these non-random deviations from Duverger’s law to the influence of federal arrangements. The article provides evidence that more than two parties will get votes in an electoral district when either more than two national parties or a combination of national and regional parties compete for votes in a state. We show that an increase in the number of regional parties alone at the state level would not have the same effect on district-level results.