Brokers cultivate client relationships through responsiveness beyond election cycles. This study explores broker preferences when evaluating client appeals outside of elections, testing theories that predict ethnic or partisan favoritism.

* Research Method: We employed a conjoint experiment with 629 Indian slum leaders and ethnographic fieldwork to assess broker decision-making criteria.

* Key Finding: Our results indicate brokers prioritize reputation management when deciding client responsiveness, rather than demonstrating strong ethnic or partisan bias in their day-to-day operations.

This research offers crucial insights into the nuanced dynamics of clientelism beyond electoral periods. It challenges assumptions that ethnic favoritism dominates distributive politics outside election cycles.