Malapportionment, an imbalance in electoral district sizes, unfairly disadvantages people in larger constituencies. This research explores how this affects cabinet representation at subnational levels across Indian states during 1977-2007.
Data & Methods:
New cross-sectional dataset on elections and cabinet formation in India’s states (1977–2007)
Regression discontinuity design
Key Findings:
- A one-standard-deviation increase in relative constituency size lowers the probability of a representative being included in the cabinet by 22%.
*Mechanism & Implications:
- Large parties focus on winning smaller constituencies due to malapportionment effects.
- This suggests similar dynamics may occur elsewhere in parliamentary systems where legislative outcomes impact executive branch representation.
