-The Hindu Business Line Clientelism - tying benefits to political choices - cannot work because voting preferences cannot be ascertained. Do parties and their local agents link access to government services and benefits from government welfare schemes to how voters vote, or are expected to vote? This political strategy, which social scientists refer to as clientelism, depends on a massive investment in local leaders who collect information on voters' party preferences, vote choices...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: In an impressive first-time performance, the Aam Aadmi Party has scripted political history in Delhi by winning 28 seats and finishing first runners-up in 20 others for the 70-member Legislative Assembly, results of which were announced on Sunday. While 10 of its winners have a clear margin of over 10,000 votes, seven others won by a margin between 5,000 and 10,000 votes. Of the 20 AAP candidates who...

-The Hindu Is the voting population a true reflection of the country's population? New data for Delhi indicates that marginalised groups are less likely to be registered or vote, but the election commission is narrowing this gap. An Election Commission of India-commissioned survey shows that Muslims, new migrants, women and young people were less likely to be registered and vote than others. The ECI's own analysis of its data also shows that...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) chairperson, Wajahat Habibullah, today said he would urge the Prime Minister to ensure speedy rehabilitation of Muzaffarnagar riot victims at Monday's National Integration Council (NIC) meeting. "According to official figures, nearly 44,500 Muslims have been displaced from their villages and have taken shelter in nearby schools and mosques in Muslim-dominated villages. I will urge the Prime Minister to take up the matter...

-The Hindu Development, price rise and jobs will be the overriding voter concerns in 2014 Lok Sabha poll Results from a nearly 20,000-strong opinion poll conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) for CNN-IBN and The Hindu indicate that ‘development and the economy' and ‘price rise' will dominate voter concerns in 2014. Corruption comes in at a distant fifth, just half as important to voters as ‘development and...