| Summary/Abstract |
This article essays an interpretation of representative claims articulated in the campaign for the Lok Sabha election of 2014, arguing that this election signals a shift from one dominant type of representative claim to another. The first two claims—the classical liberal view of political representation as an aggregation of preferences and descriptive representation—are embodied by the Congress Party and the social justice parties respectively. These claims are located within the universe of representative democracy, and are sought to be transcended by two new representative claims, encountered in the 2014 election. These are counter-democratic populism and realist Caesarism, signified by the Aam Aadmi Party and the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party, respectively. While these two do not dispense with representative democracy, their claim to provide a more effective or stronger form of democracy indicates a significant departure that redefines the relationship between representation and democracy.
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