Malapportionment, an imbalance in electoral district sizes, unfairly disadvantages people in larger constituencies. This research explores how this affects cabinet representation at subnational levels across Indian states during 1977-2007.

Data & Methods:

New cross-sectional dataset on elections and cabinet formation in India’s states (1977–2007)

Regression discontinuity design

Key Findings:

• A one-standard-deviation increase in relative constituency size lowers the probability of a representative being included in the cabinet by 22%.

Mechanism & Implications:*

• Large parties focus on winning smaller constituencies due to malapportionment effects.

• This suggests similar dynamics may occur elsewhere in parliamentary systems where legislative outcomes impact executive branch representation.