Calling the connection between economics and politics in India tenuous at best, writer-investor Ruchir Sharma said development alone cannot win votes.

"Last year in May, we met a local politician in Mangalore during our Karnataka election trip and he told us that Indian elections is about a contest of six metrics. You are taking six exams and you have to pass each exam with an minimum score of at least 35 percent," Sharma told CNBC-TV18.

Sharma has been covering elections for the last 25 years and his new book Democracy on the Road, which is said to provide an insightful account of how Indian democracy works.

"There have been 27 instances since 1980 when a state has grown at a rate of more than eight percent during a full term of a chief minister and of these 27 instances, about half the time the chief minister has lost the election. This is such a telling statistic that you can grow at eight percent or more and yet not come back to power," he added.

Sharma is the author of books like The Rise and Fall of Nations: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World and Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles.

First Published:Feb 4, 2019 8:33 PM IST