Dr. Manjari Katju, University of Hyderabad gave a talk on Electoral Competition, Procedural Democracy and the Election Commission of India on 20 March. The talk was based on Dr. Manjari Katju’s book, Electoral Practice and the Election Commission of India: Politics, Institutions and Democracy (2023). 

Manjari is a professor of political science at the University of Hyderabad and she has researched and written widely on themes of Hindu nationalism, democracy, elections and state institutions. In her book, she charts the trajectory of electoral practices in India and the work of the Election Commission over a period of time between 1990 (the year just before the 10th parliamentary elections of 1991) and 2019 (the year of the 17th parliamentary elections). She argues that as a constitutional institution, the EC plays a crucial role in steering democracy through its work of conducting and supervising elections in India, and for this reason its autonomy is crucial.  Today when Indian democracy witnesses challenges like designs of ‘othering’, ethno-dominance and curbs on dissent, often in the name of ‘nationalism’, it is important that the Election Commission maintains its position as a guardian of free and fair elections, and not seen as partisan. In the session, Manjari discussed the Election Commission’s evolution as an institution and its contemporary orientation in the rough and tumble of Indian politics.

March 2024