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India was the 19th most electoral democratic country in Asia according to V-Dem Democracy indices in 2023 with a score of 0.399 out of 1.[1] The Economist Democracy Index in 2022 considered India a flawed democracy.[2]
According to V-Dem Institute, laws on sedition, defamation, and counterterrorism are used to silence critics,[3] and describes India as "one of the worst autocratisers in the last 10 years".[4] Free political speech is limited.[5] Gerrymandering is another challenge to democracy in India.[6][7]
Early Shakyas, Koliyas, Mallakas, and Licchavis claim assemblies open to all men, rich and poor,[8] which could be considered a form of direct democracy. Other saṅghas and gaṇas had councils of unelected nobles, which don't meet the standards of democracy. Greek historian Diodorus writes two centuries after the time of Alexander the Great about democratic states in India,[9] but lacks evidence for elections considering the word "democracy" around the 3rd century BCE could mean any autonomous state.[10][11] In the 10th century, the election of local representatives for the village bodies during the Chola Empire is claimed in Vaikunda Perumal Temple's inscriptions.[12][13][14]
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