This article assesses the impact of electoral reforms in India, with a focus on their effectiveness in enhancing fairness, transparency, and electoral efficiency. While the adoption of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) has increased voter confidence and streamlined the voting process, reforms aimed at addressing deeper issues, such as the criminalization of politics and opaque political funding, have yielded mixed results. Despite mandatory disclosure requirements, candidates with criminal records continue to be elected, and the Electoral Bond scheme has introduced new forms of opacity. This study highlights the limitations of legal and procedural reforms in transforming political culture. It underscores the need for a more nuanced understanding of the interplay between national reforms and local political dynamics, with a case study of Madhya Pradesh illustrating these complexities.
Mangala et al. (Sat,) studied this question.