Editor's Introduction

This collection of essays has been in the making for a long time. The tradition of election studies was revived at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies(CSDS), Delhi in the mid-nineties after a gap of almost 25 years. A group of political scientists from different parts of India were invited by the CSDS to collaborate with it in undertaking a series of academic studies of elections. The collaboration began first with a series of assembly elections held during 1993-95. This was followed by the National Election Study (NES) 1996 at the time of the General Election to Lok Sabha. It was after a long time that so many political scientists collaborated in conducting a truly nationwide study.