India’s 2026 State Elections and Indian Democracy?

This week on Democracy Dialogues, Maya Tudor speaks with two keen observers of Indian politics, Gilles Verniers and Yamini Aiyar, about what India’s 2026 state elections reveal about the future of the world’s largest democracy. Why did the incumbent government BJP make major gains in some states while struggling in others? Do competitive elections still mean democracy is entirely healthy? And why have places like Tamil Nadu and Kerala remained resistant to Hindu nationalist politics? This episode analyses one of the most important democratic stories in the world right now — and asks what state elections might tell us about India’s democracy more broadly. Gilles Verniers, Centre for South Asia at Stanford University. Gilles Verniers’ work on Indian politics and elections hereYamini Aiyar, Visiting Professor of the Practice at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs, Brown University. Yamini Aiyar’s recent writing on democracy and electoral administration in India here