India Defies the Odds: Enduring Another Election

Issue Date July 1998
Volume 9
Issue 3
Page Numbers 7-20
file Print
arrow-down-thin Download from Project MUSE
external View Citation

Indians appear to love the practice of democracy so much that they are in danger of overdoing it. In February and March of 1998, the world’s largest democracy held its twelfth general election since gaining its independence a half-century ago. The voting was largely fair and peaceful. New, right-of-center rulers led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) replaced the old, left-of-center ones. The handover of power went smoothly.