Browsing by Author "Thousen Barman, Dibyashree"

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    Criminalization of Politics in Northeast India: Challenges and Recent Trends
    (National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam, 2025-06) Thousen Barman, Dibyashree
    Criminalization of politics presents a severe threat to democratic integrity and good governance in India, and its impact in Northeast India is particularly troubling due to the region’s unique socio-political fabric. Despite the Northeast's strategic significance, cultural diversity, and constitutional guarantees of autonomy, the region has witnessed an increasing entrenchment of individuals with criminal backgrounds in political and administrative institutions. This criminalization is not limited to the mere presence of criminal cases against candidates; it is symptomatic of deeper systemic failures that allow crime and power to reinforce each other. In states such as Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, and Tripura, electoral processes have, at times, become vulnerable to manipulation through money power, coercion, insurgent influence, and communal polarization. Criminal networks often operate hand in glove with political actors, using financial and militant resources to capture votes, silence opposition, and consolidate authority. Insurgent groups—some active, others former—continue to play a shadow role in shaping electoral outcomes by issuing voting diktats or aligning with political parties through informal understandings