PRESS RELEASE, 27 March 2014

India elections: The largest democratic exercise in the history of humankind

SOAS South Asia experts available for comment

Next month Indian voters go to the polls to vote in their country’s 16th general elections.  With 814 million voters registered, this will be the largest democratic exercise in the history of humankind. It will take place over a five-week period, from 7 April to 12 May 2014.

SOAS recently established a South Asia Institute, whose membership consists of 56 academics in twelve different departments. This includes a substantial number of specialists on social, cultural and political change in contemporary India who will be available to speak to the media about the Indian elections during this important period.

Director of SOAS South Asia Institute Professor Michael Hutt said: “A great deal is at stake in these elections. The shape and complexion of the government that emerges from them will determine the scale of India’s future economic growth, the political future of India’s ‘first family’, and relations between the country’s Hindu and Muslim populations, as the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party seems set to make significant gains.”

Please contact Vesna Siljanovska to book the experts below for an interview on +44 (0) 20 7898 4135 or v.siljanovska@soas.ac.uk.

Development and governance
Dr Subir Sinha
Senior Lecturer in Institutions Development in Department of Development Studies. Topics: Development and governance as electoral issues, voting in rural areas as well as by poor people, media coverage, Modi, communalism/secularism, decline of Congress party, rise of the Hindu right as a political and economic force, not only a cultural one.

In-country during elections – all angles, particularly media coverage of the elections
Dr Somnath Batabyal, Lecturer in Media and Development in Centre for Media and Film Studies

Foreign policy implications
Dr Rahul Rao, Lecturer in Politics in Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy

Economic issues and the long-term implications for other countries            Professor Lawrence Sáez, Professor in the Political Economy of Asia in Department of Politics and International Studies

In-country during the elections – all angles
Dr Simona Vittorini, Senior Teaching Fellow in Department of Politics and International Studies

All angles – religion and violence and prospects for the country
Professor Gurharpal Singh, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Topic: Manmohan Singh, the PM; religion and violence; prospects for the economy; Narendra Modi; external affairs; Sonia Gandhi; regional parties; relations with Pakistan

South Asian politics: the state and political ideologies in India and multiculturalism 
Dr Rochana Bajpai, Senior Lecturer in Politics in Department of Politics and International Studies

Institutional change; democratic theory; democratic practice
Dr Matthew Nelson, Reader in Politics in Department of Politics and International Studies

NOTES TO EDITORS

SOAS, University of London is among the world’s elite university institutions, ranked sixth in the UK and 26^th in the world and for arts and humanities (Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2013-2014), fourth in London overall (Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2014, Guardian University Guide 2013) and 32^nd in the world for Modern Languages (QS World University Rankings 2014).  SOAS provides resources and knowledge about Asia, Africa and the Middle East to equip people for a global economy and a multicultural world.