While we do not have "conscience votes" in Indian legislatures, that is one factor amongst a few related issues that results in the fact that recorded votes are generally not a rule. Most votes on matters in Parliament tend to be a voice vote, with divisions rarely called - and the deterioration/further partisan positioning of speakers and presiding offices resulting in even fewer acceptance of division requests recently. The Indian Parliament is definitely one of the more striking examples amongst national parliaments for that. https://prsindia.org/articles-by-prs-team/parliament-voting-ayes-vs-noes-and-road-from-manual-to-electronic-recording
That said, I wouldn't say that MP behaviour, interventions in the house do not form a component worth studying in order to understand their behaviour. Even looking at the range of interventions they make provides a useful sense of the issues they do raise in parliamentary questions, interventions (and who they join together in such interventions and on what topics, including constituency issues), as well as the private members bills that many MPs file, even though they know the chance of such bills being accepted for introduction, let alone later debate and enactment, are loaded against them. The PRS MPTrack tool for each MP is quite useful in that regard as an opening sense of that as Shiv mentioned. It does require more careful analysis and a recognition of the multi-tiered reasons that might motivate an MP (asking a question on a stalled project is often a reasonable tactic for an MP belonging to/allied with the ruling coalition if they believe they have limited inroads to the executive branch ministry/agency concerned, whereas opposition MPs would perhaps be more inclined to try to bring a debate on an issue. And sometimes questions may be jointly asked by several MPs because they depend on common secretarial staff or party machinery). And MPs themselves do monitor the statistics released on their parliamentary activity and what the press may be saying on them as a result of that (again, the context can vary based on the political affiliation, political situation of the MP and the wider government-legislative relationship on that issue or person). For most subject specific study, people use the initial data released by the houses of Parliament and compiled by PRS, and then go deeper into the text of the actual questions asked, answers received, transcript of house proceedings (because the summarisation often misses key important telltales, trends for lawmaker activity). I would encourage you to speak to the teams at PRS, who can share what of their own datasets are available and the best way to understand lawmaker activity, trends based on that data. [happy to connect you if helpful, though some may already be on this list] Raman. On Tue, 25 Apr 2023 at 21:33, Ryu Matsuura <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks so much everyone (and sorry for my late reply)! This is of > tremendous help - given what Praachi and Peter mentioned, the provision of > local public goods (or something else along the line) may be more helpful > to understand the behavior of Indian politicians... Thanks again! > > On Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at 6:25:03 AM UTC-5 [email protected] wrote: > >> Hi Ryu, >> >> I endorse what Praachi has said in his response: in Parliamentary >> systems, party discipline is the rule. In Australia, for example, on the >> rare occasion an MP defies 'the whip' it may be front page news. >> Many years ago Henry Hart interviewed many MPs in the Indian Lok Sabha. >> Since there were no interesting differences in voting behaviour, he >> concentrated on the different ways they related to their constituents: >> "MPs as Nation-Builders" >> Henry C. Hart >> Economic and Political Weekly >> Vol. 2, No. 3/5, Annual Number (Feb., 1967), pp. 191+193-195+197-200 (8 >> pages) >> >> best wishes, >> Peter Mayer >> >> On Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at 3:30:48 PM UTC+9:30 Praachi Misra wrote: >> >>> In India, voting on legislation is not a 'conscience vote'. Legislators, >>> do not take individual positions, but follow the party whip. Not following >>> the whip can lead to the disqualification of legislators, or breakaway >>> groups. >>> >>> A detailed write up is available *here >>> <https://loksabhadocs.nic.in/Refinput/New_Reference_Notes/English/15072022_111659_1021205175.pdf> >>> *from the Lok Sabha & Parliament library. PRS provides a more concise >>> write-up here >>> <https://prsindia.org/theprsblog/the-anti-defection-law-explained>. >>> >>> Regards, >>> P >>> >>> On Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at 1:07:56 AM UTC+5:30 Ryu Matsuura wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Shiv, >>>> >>>> Thanks for asking and sorry for the lack of clarity here - what I meant >>>> is how each MP/MLA votes for bills/legislations introduced in assemblies. I >>>> fundamentally would like to understand how each politician behaves in >>>> office so I wonder if there are any datasets or archives on (i) which bill >>>> is introduced by which politician and (ii) how each politician reacts to >>>> bills (e.g. votes for or against bills). >>>> >>>> Thanks so much! >>>> Ryu >>>> On Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 2:31:01 PM UTC-5 Shiv Hastawala wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi Ryu >>>>> >>>>> I'm not sure about what you mean by 'how an MP/MLA cast a ballot in >>>>> their legislation'. Casting a ballot usually refers to the act of voting >>>>> in >>>>> an election. If you mean to say that you need info on who these >>>>> politicians >>>>> voted for (which they do since they are also citizens of the nation) or >>>>> something similar regarding their own vote, then I don't think anything of >>>>> that sort is going to be available. >>>>> >>>>> But if you meant something else and if I didn't understand that, it >>>>> would be great if you could please explain it once again. >>>>> >>>>> On Tue, Apr 18, 2023 at 1:53 PM, Ryu Matsuura <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Hi everyone, >>>>>> >>>>>> Hope everyone is doing great. My name is Ryu - I am an economics PhD >>>>>> student at Northwestern University. I am looking for data that help me >>>>>> understand the behavior of MPs and/or MLAs once elected. I wonder if >>>>>> any of you are aware of any datasets that would be relevant. Does anyone >>>>>> know, say, if there are any digitized or archival records of how each >>>>>> state >>>>>> MLA or MP cast a ballot for each legislation in the assemblies? I would >>>>>> really appreciate it if you can kindly let me know if there are any >>>>>> datasets that can help me understand the behavior of Indian politicians. >>>>>> >>>>>> I am aware that the MPLADS data (which Professor Francesca Jensenius >>>>>> compiled) as well as the Question Hours data from the Trivedi Center are >>>>>> out there. If anyone knows any other datasets (even undigitized records >>>>>> would be helpful), please let me know! Thanks so much in advance! >>>>>> >>>>>> Regards, >>>>>> Ryu >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know >>>>>> more about us by visiting http://datameet.org >>>>>> --- >>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>>> Groups "datameet" group. >>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, >>>>>> send an email to [email protected]. >>>>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/datameet/fe57d4fc-7fe2-455c-9068-48cc4e78fc70n%40googlegroups.com >>>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/datameet/fe57d4fc-7fe2-455c-9068-48cc4e78fc70n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>>>> . >>>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> >>>>> Thanks and regards. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Yours sincerely >>>>> >>>>> *Shiv Hastawala* >>>>> >>>>> (He/His/Him) >>>>> Doctoral Student >>>>> Department of Economics >>>>> Binghamton University (State University of New York) >>>>> >>>>> Zoom ID: 201 717 2613 <(201)%20717-2613> >>>>> >>>>> www.shivhastawala.com >>>>> >>>> -- > Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more > about us by visiting http://datameet.org > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "datameet" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/datameet/0f34f234-4679-4785-8b94-caae47c2911cn%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/datameet/0f34f234-4679-4785-8b94-caae47c2911cn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more about us by visiting http://datameet.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "datameet" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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