The Indian voter is a fascinating subject. Economist Arun Kumar Kaushik and psephologist Yugank Goyal will tell you this. “Voters are very cognisant of whom they want in Delhi and which party in the state,” explains Goyal. He cites the example of the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections in Himachal Pradesh, where almost 42 per cent people voted for the Congress. “But in the Lok Sabha elections that took place two years later, only 27 per cent voted for the party. So this idea of the Indian voter being gullible is not really true. They truly know what they want.”

In their just-released book, Who Moved My Vote? (Westland Non-fiction), the academics sift through electoral data, to explore why the complex number game sometimes leaves the discerning voter disheartened and with a leader and party they never voted for. Pointing out leakages in the system, the duo also makes a case for the need for reforms in the election machinery.