Prof Robin Jeffrey & Mrs Sujatha Singh

Indian Elections 2009

May 15, 2009

Elections to Lok Sabha, the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, constitute the biggest democratic exercise in the world. More than 700 million voters elect 543 representatives to the 15th Lok Sabha in nation-wide elections held in five phases over a period of one month, involving mobilization of millions of officials to conduct polling in over 800,000 polling stations across the country.

Professor Jeffrey’s talk will cover various aspects of the elections, which began on April 16, and whose results will be declared on May 16. He will explain the workings of the electoral system in a country that is the world’s largest democracy and look at possible scenarios following the elections.

thumbnail 

Professor Robin Jeffrey has studied and researched in India for more than 40 years. He taught school there from 1967-69 and completed a doctorate in Indian history at Sussex University in 1973. He taught for 25 years in the Politics Program at La Trobe University in Melbourne, worked twice at ANU in Canberra and has lived for six years in India at different times. He is an emeritus professor of La Trobe and ANU and board member of the Australia-India Council. His most recent book is India's Newspaper Revolution (2nd edition 2003, with a new edition due this year). At the moment, he is particularly interested in research about mobile phones and how they are transforming India.

 

 

   Professor Jeffrey will be introduced with remarks by Sujatha Singh, the High Commissioner of India to Australia.