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Measuring Voting Behaviour in India captures the dynamics of multiple methodologies used for measuring voting behavior in India in the past and present. The authors elaborate on various methods that are used for measuring voters′ opinions, attitudes, and perceptions. They discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method to capture the multiplicity of the electoral experience of diverse voters across different settings in India. This they accomplish utilizing their long experience of conducting national- and state-level election surveys in India and by simultaneous studies using different methodologies. The authors trace the tradition of measuring voting behavior in India from a historical perspective, beginning with a constituency-level study of the Poona Lok Sabha constituency in 1967. They move on to discuss in great detail the survey method for measuring voting behavior widely used in the 1990s and even after that. The book introduces to the readers details of conducting election surveys, that is, sampling, questionnaire design, field work and data collection, data entry and analysis, and challenges in estimating vote share based on surveys. It also delves into the various challenges and hurdles in translating vote estimates into seat estimates, with the nature of the political contest varying from one state to another. The book poses the major challenges in measuring the voting behavior of Indian voters and tries to offer possible solutions to meet these challenges.

This is the first analysis of Gandhi′s dressing style in terms of communication theory and an exploration of the subliminal messages that were subtly communicated to a large audience. Peter Gonsalves chooses three famous theorists from the field of communication studies and looks at Gandhi through the lens of each one, to give us a fascinating and new insight into one of the most famous men from South Asia. The author first prepares the ground for the theoretical investigation by exploring the breadth of Gandhi′s communication skills. He provides essential information on a wide range of Gandhi′s communication skills, with a view to proposing interesting areas of research for communication scholars. The book deals with the qualitative and quantitative aspects of Gandhi′s verbal output, his linguistic capacity, his journalistic and letter-writing style, his peace communication in an atmosphere of conflict, his organizational ability and the international repercussions of his mass mediated messages. It also elaborates the different types of non-verbal communication he used, such as silence, fasting, clothing, personal presence and charisma. The book closes with, perhaps for the first time, a Gandhian approach to symbolisation for socio-political change.Photographs of Gandhi in different phases of his life have been used to provide a visual chronology of sartorial change and emphasise the arguments in the book.

The twenty stimulating and original essays in this volume provide a comprehensive analysis of the main strands of modern Indian political thought. The thinkers dicussed are Rammohun Roy, Dayananda Saraswati, Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, Ranade, Phule, Tilak, B R Ambedkar, Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, M N Roy, Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi. Separate essays are devoted to the Hindu and Muslim traditions in Indian political thought, Hindu nationalism, and the ideologies of the Communist and Sarvodaya movements. A significant feature of these essays is that they study each thinker or movement in the relevant socio-historical context as also examine the consequences and impact of modern Indian political theories, These are analysed from a world-hostorical and, to some extent, a political economy perspective. The essays in this collection highlight two major streams in modern Indian political thought—one which favoured the adoption or adaptation of western political traditions and the other which sought to evolve indigenous or alternative formulations. The overall conclusion that emerges from this volume is that in order to formulate an adequate political philosophy for the modern age, both the western and Indian traditions have to be taken into account. In this context, some of the essays highlight the contemporary global relevance of Gandhi's socio-political ideas. This book is a major contribution to modern political philosophy. It will be of great value to students and teacher of political science.

This book captures how electioneering has changed over the years and how media and marketing have assumed more significance than party manifestos. On 16th May 2014, India witnessed the result of an intense political campaign. Those who were vanquished felt that this was due to the success of a marketing blitzkrieg, which actually pollutes a democracy. Again, for those who supported the eventual winner—the Narendra Modi-led BJP—it was a great victory. Viewed either way, India's national election for the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014 will remain a landmark in the annals of political campaigns. The work is thus a study of campaign strategies, how they are framed, the role of local actors and to what extent individuals rule over ideologies and vice versa. An important contribution to the study of India's 2014 General Elections.