Dimpal Das
Volume-XV, Issue-I, October 2026
Volume-XV, Issue-I, October 2026 | ||
Received: 10.10. 2026 | Accepted: 15.10.2026 | |||
Published Online: 31.10.2026 | Page No: 119-125 | |||
DOI: 10.64031/pratidhwanitheecho.vol.15.issue.01W.141 | ||||
Floods, Relief and the Ballot:
Electoral Accountability in Assam after the 2024 Floods
Dimpal Das, Research Scholar, Dept. of Political Science, Gauhati
University, Assam, India
Rimjhim
Saikia, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Political
Science, Digboi College, Assam, India | |
Disasters like those occurring in
India's flood-prone state of Assam pose a unique challenge to evaluating
democratic accountability. While governments have no ability to control
rainfall or river flow, they will likely receive credit or blame for how well
they prepare for, respond to, and recover after a disaster. In this paper we
examine the impact of the 2024 floods on electoral accountability by linking
the extreme flooding experienced in 2024 with voter behaviour during the 2026
Assam Legislative Assembly election. Our research used two sources of
information: the District Level Flood/Relief Data provided by the Assam State
Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), as well as our own Election Results
dataset, along with a pre-disaster political baseline developed from the 2024
Lok Sabha election. Importantly, our research indicates that there is a
conditional nature to how voters evaluate their elected officials' performance
relative to the negative impacts of disasters such as those experienced in 2024
in Assam. Specifically, we found that, unlike previous research indicated,
voters did not automatically punish elected officials who suffered from
recurring disasters. Rather, voters evaluated how their elected official
responded politically to the crisis. | |
Keyword:
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