The Rural Vote in the 2019 Indian General Elections
Vani Swarupa Murali and Diego Maiorano
24 June 2019
The 2019 Indian general elections returned the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government to power with a larger majority. In this election, the BJP managed to expand its voter base into rural areas, in spite of severe agrarian distress and farmers’ protests. The paper looks into this paradox to understand how the BJP was able to exceed its previous win.