Studying Indian Politics with Large-scale Data: Indian Election Data 1961–today

Abstract

There has been a major shift in how Indian politics is studied, as large-scale data has become easier to access and analyze. In this research note, we describe some useful techniques and tools used for creating and merging large-scale datasets. We also introduce two datasets: constituency-level datasets of Indian State Elections and General Elections from 1961 until today. We describe the process of creating these datasets, the efforts involved in cleaning the data, and how the data can be utilized. In conclusion, we offer some reflections on the limitations of over-relying on quantitative data in research on Indian politics.