The Local Election Database is the ID2 Lab’s ongoing effort to compile existing data on the demographics of all candidates who have contested local elections in addition to the results of those elections across every state in India. Research assistants at the lab are working on collecting and arranging publicly available data in both digital and hard copy format in order to transform the database into a public resource. We expect this effort to be completed by early 2025.

The Constitution of India mandates the representation of women and historically marginalized caste groups in local elections through reserved seats. Critics of electoral quotas for minority populations have expressed concern that quotas will worsen politician quality. In order to understand the merit of these claims, the ID2 Lab is leveraging census data and data from the Local Election Database. This Selection Project is an analytical effort to determine how the presence of electoral quotas in the state of Odisha influences patterns in who contests local government positions and who wins those positions. Early findings from this research suggest that under conditions of discrimination, electoral quotas can improve politician quality when voters hold minority politicians to higher standards. The research team’s analysis has revealed that women and minority politicians must be relatively more exceptional with respect to their educational attainment as compared to upper-caste men in order to succeed in local elections. The research team has further shown that this dynamic is undercut by the limited supply of educated minority candidates in many villages. When there is a sufficiently high supply of educated minorities, electoral quotas improve politician quality.

The research team working on the Selection Project is presently expanding this analysis by conducting in-person data collection on electoral outcomes from as many districts within the state of Odisha as possible. We expect to conclude this effort in the summer of 2024.