The Criminology of Electoral Justice: Analysing Voter Behaviour and Democratic Assertion in the Success of Emerging Political Parties

Author(s)	Mr. Arunkumar A R
Country	India
Abstract	This article examines the intersection of political criminology and electoral democracy through the lens of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam's (TVK) emergence as a significant political force in Tamil Nadu, India. Drawing on frameworks from criminological theory including social control theory, strain theory, institutional anomie, and labelling theory, this study analyses how voter behaviour constitutes an active instrument of democratic justice. The article argues that electoral mandates are not merely political events but acts of normative assertion by citizenries who deploy the ballot as a mechanism for correcting perceived institutional failures, redistributive injustice, and democratic deficit. The analysis situates TVK's rise within a broader theoretical framework of "democratic criminology," which conceptualizes entrenched political power as a form of systemic deviance against which electorates respond through organized civic action. The study contributes to an underexplored area in political criminology the sociology of electoral insurgency and offers implications for the study of emerging political parties in postcolonial democratic contexts.
Keywords	Political criminology, Electoral justice, Democratic legitimacy, voter behaviour, Institutional anomie, Democratic assertion
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On	2026-05-08
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i03.77637

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