Research

Novel Visual Conjoint Experiment

Working Papers

Ideological Transformation After Patron Co-optation? The Resilience of Ethno-Clientelism Amid Hindu Nationalism in a Scheduled Tribe Constituency in India

Under Review

  • Explores the electoral shift of Bhil Scheduled Tribes (ST) in western India towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) through capture of local Bhil patrons. Argues that ethnic and material interests remain salient despite increasing Hindu nationalist mobilization, and loyalty to local patron trumps party affiliation amongst BJP voting Bhils.
  • Mixed-Method Research Design: Visual Conjoint Survey (n=678 in 40 villages) and Interviews (n=80 voters in 10 villages, 20 elites).

Bringing Forward the Past? Persistence of Bhil Tribal Identity Among Youth Amid Rising Hindu Nationalism in Rural Western India

Under Review

  • Traces the generational divide in social expression of indigenous identity amongst Bhils in Western India.

Discretionary Partisans: How Grassroots Organizations Reconcile Mandate and Electoral Engagement

Co-Author With Feyaad Allie

  • Introduces the concept of grassroots organizations as discretionary partisans, initiating partisan collaboration with parties but varying its intensity depending on the candidate’s compatibility with their values. Uses shadowing and a vignette experiment with 730 GO and 736 party workers.
  • Pre-registration: OSF.

Ongoing Projects

Organizational Expansiveness and Voter Selectivity: How Voters Respond to Partisan Mobilization by Grassroots Organizations

Co-Author With Feyaad Allie

  • Examines how non-partisan grassroots organizations (GOs) engage voters during elections using shadowing, a vignette experiment with 730 organizational workers, and a conjoint experiment with 2368 voters. Explores whether GOs are selective or expansive in partisan voter outreach, and whether this perceived advantage holds up on the voter side.
  • Pre-registration: OSF.

Can Knowledge Make Voters Demand Accountability for Delayed Local Government Elections?

Co-Author With Alyssa Heinze

  • Analyzes awareness and impact of bureaucratic rule on perceptions of service delivery and democracy amid delays in local body elections in Maharashtra. This study uses surveys of 2300 voters and 1400 organizational and party workers across four districts. Finding low voter awareness, it seeks to run a follow-up experiment with 3000 voters providing knowledge of local body elected status, to see whether knowledge counters voter apathy.
  • Pre-registration: OSF.

Disproportionate Vacancy: Why Indigenous Reserved Seats Remain Vacant in India’s Village Councils

Co-Author With Alyssa Heinze

  • Analyzing data on 3600 vacant village council seats in Maharashtra (India), we find seats reserved for indigenous people, and specifically indigenous women are overrepresented amongst vacant seats three times their share of the population. Using surveys of village council leaders and 3000 voters in Maharashtra, the study seeks to examine the cause and consequence of this disproportion vacancy rates.

Dynasts and Aspirational Pragmatism: The Role of Electoral Ambition in Shaping Citizens’ Perceptions of Dynastic Politicians

Co-Author With Rahul Verma

  • Explores perceptions of dynasts versus non-dynasts on political metrics using surveys of 1400 party workers and 2000 voters. Finds that voter preference for dynasts is mediated by their own ambition for higher office.

Ambition Amongst Party Workers in India

Co-Author With Feyaad Allie and Rahul Verma

  • Investigates how rank-and-file workers in hierarchical party systems like India balance political ambition and upward mobility. Initial analysis suggests electoral ambition is mediated by mobility within the party’s governing body.