Electoral Geography

Contents: 1. Electoral geography: nature, scope and approaches. 2. Understanding north east Rajasthan. 3. Constituencies and electorate. 4. Trends and patterns of voting turnout. 5. Social issues and political parties. 6. Spatial patterns of party performance. 7. Vote trends and support stability. 8. Findings and analysis.

Electoral geography is an emerging field of research which has sprouted as a subfield of political geography. Considerable work has been done in this field the world over, but it could not receive expected attention among Indian scholars. In this book, the author has made an attempt to introduce the young scholars with this field of study by providing an exhaustive survey of research works carried out so far. The author also unravels potential areas for research in this field in India. The book explains the meaning and evolution of electoral geography and further presents a succinct summary of various approaches being adopted by different scholars.

The book provides guidance to the young scholars as to how to carry out research in electoral geography through ‘areal-ecological approach’. Major socio-economic determinants in the Indian federal polity have also been identified on the basis of a case study pertaining to the north east Rajasthan in terms of Lok Sabha elections in 1991 and 1998 as well as the Assembly elections in 1993 and 1998. The author identifies spatial patterns of electoral support for Indian National Congress and Bhartiya Janta Party and the broad nature of socio-economic base of each party.