What happens when Lok Sabha polls are held in shadow of economic crisis?

The 2019 general elections will be held amid economic challenges -growth has remained stable, but the rupee has plunged to record lows, and rising crude oil prices could wreak havoc on govt finances

Since the early 1990s, there have been five instances when India’s general elections have been preceded by a sharp deterioration in the country’s economic climate.

For three of these five instances (1991, 2013 and 2018), the downbeat economic situation could be traced in parts to a rise in the country’s current account deficit — a result of rising crude oil prices and a fall in the currency’s value. In the other two episodes — 1997 and 2008 — the origins of the economic slowdown were outside of India. But in three of the five instances (1991, 1997 and 2013), authorities responded