State elections a test of BJP’s popularity

Upcoming state elections in India will, as ever, have an important bearing on economic policy at the local level. They will also go some way to determining whether the ruling BJP will be able to gain control of the upper house of parliament, which on several occasions has delayed or blocked the passage of economic reform. But there is added interest in the forthcoming votes, as they will viewed by markets as bellwethers of the government’s popularity ahead of the general election in 2019.