In India as in numerous other electoral democracies, political parties use cash handouts, personalistic favours, and small scale goods and services to court poor voters at the time of elections, rather than providing access to broader welfare services or strengthening implementation of social and economic rights for the poor. In research literature, poor voters - particularly the urban poor - are usually seen through this lens of clientelist politics, where poor "clients" primarily participate in the political process through discrete individual or small group negotiations with political patrons around the provision of these private benefits and favours. Less attention has been paid to ways in which poor voters participate in other types of political processes such as political contention, or ways in which they might mobilise to demand broader rights contrary to their role as clients.

This presentation focuses on the case of a state election in India that occurred in the wake of extensive contention by the urban poor around demands for housing and land rights. Focusing on the dynamics of contention and electoral participation by urban poor voters in a city where forced evictions of multiple slum settlements had led to continuous protests, this presentation discusses how the urban poor and their local leaders organised campaigns around the issue of their housing and land rights, built the issue into a salient electoral agenda, and mobilised their vote to help defeat the ruling party candidate. The case demonstrates how demands for rights and struggles for political accountability can be driven bottom up, how the urban poor can be as crucial participants in electoral politics as party politicians, and how the political participation of urban poor voters is not necessarily limited to narrow transactions for private benefits but can involve strategic collective action around broader demands for welfare and rights.

About the speaker

Sobhi Mohanty is a PhD candidate in the International Relations & Political Science department at Graduate Institute Geneva, working under the academic supervision of Prof. Elisabeth Prügl. Her dissertation research focuses on the political participation of the urban poor in India, and their broader role within urban democratic processes. Her past experience includes research on local and community-based approaches to development, and work with government agencies in India on urban poverty alleviation.

PART OF THE GENDER SEMINAR SERIES

The Gender Centre has developed this series of research seminars in order to offer a platform for exchange for students, doctoral students in particular, and researchers whose work includes a gender perspective. During this monthly series, researchers have the opportunity to discuss their work, meet peers from different disciplines at the Graduate Institute, as well as interact with other students, guest speakers and faculty members.

See the programme of this semester's Gender Seminar Series here.
 

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