The Politics of State-level COVID-19 Responses in India: Evidence from the First Wave in 2020

We examine if policy interventions to curb the spread of COVID-19 were driven by political factors. We focus on the period between 1 June and 31 August 2020 when lockdowns and testing were the only responses available with governments and policymakers across the world. These instruments are costly. Stringent lockdowns post challenges to livelihoods while only testing without any lockdown accentuates health risks. This choice between life and livelihood becomes all the more pertinent in a developing country like India. We find that state governments in India that had upcoming elections, faced close margin victory in the last election, were non-incumbents and were aligned with the party at the centre adhered to aggressive testing as a strategy and did not impose strict lockdowns to avert losses in economic activity. Such policy responses indicate an attempt to avert possible losses in future elections. These findings confirm the strong role of political factors in policy decisions. JEL Codes: P52, P16, P36