About me

Education

I am a final year doctoral candidate in comparative politics/public policy at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. My previous qualifications are from University of Melbourne (Master of Public and International Law), University of Fribourg in Switzerland (PG Diploma in Federalism, Decentralization and Conflict Resolution) and Tribhuvan University in Nepal (MA in Political Science, BA in Political Science & Economics). I was awarded Lalit Chand Gold Medal and Bada Kazi Marichman Singh Pradhan Medal by the Prime Minister of Nepal in 2016 for scoring the highest marks in Master of Arts at Tribhuvan University. I also received First Class First Honors for scoring the highest marks in Bachelor of Arts at Tribhuvan University.

Doctoral Research

My doctoral research examines Indian political parties’ election campaign promises and the conditions under which these promises are kept or broken after elections. My research is the first to examine this topic in India. It intends to make significant theoretical contributions to understanding the role of campaign promises in contexts in which party competition is characterized by valence and identity. My doctoral research project is part of the Comparative Party Pledges Project, a network of 30 researchers around the world studying campaign promises, and it also links with the Comparative Agendas Project. In addition to a series of scholarly research outputs based on this work, I am developing a promise-tracker website, which will be of significant interest to the Indian reading public.

Policy Consultancies

I have advised politicians, lawmakers and policymakers in South Asia in various capacities. Most recently, I have consulted Mott MacDonald's local governance team in Nepal as a political economy analyst for a UK government's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's project. Previously, I have consulted senior Nepali facilitators and political party leaders and provided technical support to the parliamentarians during discussions, drafting and finalization process of Constitution of Nepal, 2015 and its first and second amendments.

Highlights of my previous consultancies include working with United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Oxfam Australia, Management Systems International, National Opinion Research Centre (NORC) at the University of Chicago, The Carter Centre, The Asia Foundation, State of Democracy in South Asia, Helen Keller International, Nepal Center for Contemporary Studies, Himalaya Television and Nepal Transition to Peace Institute.