Electoral upsets--like the stunning debut of TVK in Tamil Nadu--and spectacular results--like BJP’s victory in West Bengal--have become more frequent in Indian state politics. This time, however, as an electoral analyst and political scientist, I find myself unable to analyse these results as I would normally do.
To be sure, votes have been counted, seats allocated, and winners have claimed their mandates. But the results cannot be properly interpreted, due to the mishandling of electoral rolls and conditions under which the special intensive revision (SIR) was conducted.
