Arvind Aryan

University of Ladakh, Department of Political Science, Assistant Professor

University of Jammu, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India, Department of Political Science, Ph.D

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I am a researcher and educator in the discipline of Political Science with particular interests in Indian politics, federalism, party systems, comparative politics, electoral studies, democracy, Indian political thought, and Indian knowledge systems. My research focuses on democratic institutions, political parties, nationalism, secularism, governance, and political transformation in contemporary India. He is actively engaged in teaching, research, academic mentoring, and scholarly outreach.
Phone: 7006657551
Address: R/O Village Begana, Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir

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Electoral Systems and Asymmetric Competition: The Role of FPTP in Sustaining One Party Dominance in India

Liberal Studies, 2025

The paper critically seeks to analyse on how working of the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral ... more The paper critically seeks to analyse on how working of the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral system in India has structurally enabled one party dominance by amplifying seat shares disproportionately in relation to vote shares. The paper heavily relies on the quantitative analysis of empirical electoral data for a period of 1952 to 2024 available from the Election Commission of India. It is further supplemented by the Comparative-historical analysis of Congress and BJP electoral trajectories and secondary literature review of scholarly works on electoral systems and dominance. The magnitude of disproportionality between the per centage of votes secured and the consequent share of seats achieved is measured by using the Gallagher Index and vote-to-seat conversion ratios. The paper analyses the glaring contrast between the historical phase of Congress dominance existing from 1951 to 1967 with the contemporary era of BJP dominance (2014-2024), and demonstrates how it is the structural constraint of electoral mechanism of FPTP that has been consistently transforming pluralities into disproportionate legislative majorities in India. It further supports the argument, that the electoral system in India has often functioned as an active instrument of creating dominance, rather than acting a mere passive context. The study builds on the framework of scholars like Duverger, Sartori, and Bogaards to examine the relationship between institutional arrangements and party system dynamics and consider their implications for democratic competition and substantial representation.

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Conceptualizing Political Dominance in India: A Multidimensional Framework

Journal of East-West Thought, 2026

This study seeks to conceptualize the phenomenon of political dominance within a competitive part... more This study seeks to conceptualize the phenomenon of political dominance within a competitive party system, advancing a multidimensional analytical framework rooted in Indian experience. Existing literature on party system developed by scholars like Maurice Duverger and Giovanni Sartori, primarily conceptualises dominant party systems in terms of electoral superiority. Even though Duverger has already pointed towards the sociological element of dominance too, but this insight remains underdeveloped and insufficiently integrated with the general analytical framework, rendering the existing approaches inadequate to explain dominance in socially heterogeneous and postcolonial democracies. The study carefully examines evolution of the Indian party system from the period of Congress dominance to the contemporary dominance of the Bharatiya Janata Party and argues that political dominance extends beyond mere electoral success. Therefore, to understand dominance in a holistic manner, a four-dimensional framework is proposed which comprises of electoral pre-eminence, ideological hegemony, organizational depth, and discursive control as the key variables. The study employs comparative historical analysis to understand how dominant party affects political competition, structure the behaviour of opposition forces and define the normative boundaries for the democratic discourse. It finally indicates that dominance is a relational and dynamic process that is maintained by an active interplay between institutional, sociological, and strategic variables instead of mere recurring electoral wins. By offering a theoretically refined and empirically grounded model, the paper contributes to the comparative study of party systems and provides a framework applicable to other democracies in the Global South.

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Coalition Politics in India Since 1989: Trends, Patterns and Challenges

Indian Journal of Modern Research and Reviews, 2026

The democratic republic of India boasts of a very vibrant party system, which has been in existen... more The democratic republic of India boasts of a very vibrant party system, which has been in existence even before the Independence of the nation in 1947. The Indian party system has been very dynamic and has seen different phases historically, going from the period of Congress dominance, its decline, the subsequent phase of coalition politics and the contemporary period, which could be seen as the return of dominance under the BJP. The paper explores the transformations that have occurred in the Indian party system since the late 1980s, resulting in the rise of coalition politics, thus fundamentally altering the nature of governance and political competition. It further examines the evolution, functioning, and implications of coalition politics in India from 1989 to the present, arguing that coalition governments emerged as a structural necessity due to the decline of single-party dominance and the increasing salience of regional and identity-based politics. While coalitions have enhanced representativeness and deepened federalism, they have also posed challenges in terms of policy coherence, political stability, and governance efficiency. Using a descriptive-analytical approach, the paper traces key coalition phases, evaluates their performance, and assesses their continuing relevance in an era increasingly characterised by the dominance of a single national party. The study concludes that coalition politics, despite its limitations, remains an integral feature of India's democratic landscape.

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From Indigenous Knowledge to Western Innovation: Delegitimization, Extraction and Epistemic Rebranding of Indian Knowledge Systems

Vedanjali, 2025

The paper explores how colonial rule in India created a systematic hierarchy of knowledge that ha... more The paper explores how colonial rule in India created a systematic hierarchy of knowledge that has delegitimized Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) as inferior, unscientific and pre-modern while appropriating the same indigenous knowledge to promote the western scientific and innovative outlook. Based on postcolonial epistemology and history of knowledge production the study frames this paradox as a form of epistemic colonialism, in which Indian intellectual traditions came to be selectively extracted, translated, and reframed in Eurocentric categories, and indigenous authorship and originality were erased. The paper presents through illustrative examples in medicine, mathematics, metallurgy and administrative practices how colonial knowledge regimes rebranded local knowledge, which was based on practice, into universalised forms of Western innovations. The discussion also highlights the long-lasting impact of this epistemic injustice to the academic inequalities and the value of knowledge in present-day academia. The paper seeks to critically re-engage with Indian Knowledge Systems especially going beyond mere revivalism toward epistemic restitution and methodological pluralism in global knowledge systems.

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Gandhi's Anathema of Western Democracy: An Alternative Partyless Democratic Paradigm

Researcher: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2020

The paper seeks to analyze Gandhi's anathema of western democracy, his scathing critique of weste... more The paper seeks to analyze Gandhi's anathema of western democracy, his scathing critique of western civilization, his stand on the role of political parties and his alternative model of a decentralized polity. It will also attempt to find out whether Gandhi is just another idealist like Plato or his ideas still wield some relevance in the contemporary times. The paper will compare different strands of democratic theory existing in the western academia while focusing on the centrality of Gandhian principle of Non-Violent decentralized party less democracy. The paper has also attempted
to bring together the Gandhian idea of a future Indian state scattered throughout his various writings. Gandhi has attempted to provide an alternative to the Parliamentary democracy, embedded in the indigenous traditions. As the western democracy works in the form of a pyramid where power is concentrated at the top, Gandhi's idea of democracy was based on autonomous village republics where power will flow from the grass roots and will attain the shape of a ripple. Gandhi considered
centralization of power as violence so his Idea of decentralized polity is naturally a corollary of his principle of non-violence. Now we can see that the relevance of Gandhi's ideas has been questioned by various academicians and he has been touted as a Utopian thinker but on a deeper understanding of his thoughts one can construe that he basically represents a viable alternative to western democracy better suited to Indian conditions which could be further worked out.

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