| Abstract: | Electoral reforms and political accountability constitute the normative and institutional backbone of any democratic order, and their significance becomes particularly pronounced in a complex and plural polity like India. Despite being the world’s largest democracy with a constitutionally entrenched electoral machinery, India continues to confront persistent challenges such as the influence of unregulated campaign finance, the opacity of political funding mechanisms, the criminalisation of politics, declining voter trust, and the technological vulnerabilities emerging from digital campaigning and misinformation. These challenges intersect with broader global debates around democratic erosion, institutional capture, and the recalibration of state–citizen relations in an era of rapid political communication. This conceptual paper examines the evolving discourse on electoral reforms in India, tracing key institutional interventions and locating them within theories of democratic accountability, political legitimacy, and governance ethics. It interrogates the structural constraints that limit the effectiveness of existing reform initiatives and highlights the tension between legal regulation, political will, and the behavioural dimensions of electoral participation. Further, the paper positions India’s reform trajectory within comparative global experiences to illuminate how democracies recalibrate accountability frameworks in response to new political technologies and shifting public expectations. Ultimately, it argues that strengthening electoral accountability in India requires a holistic, multilevel approach involving legal restructuring, institutional renewal, citizen empowerment, and ethical political culture. By synthesising conceptual insights with India’s ongoing reform debates, the paper contributes to a deeper understanding of how electoral integrity can be reinforced to sustain democratic resilience in the twenty-first century. |
