%N 1 %T Electoral manipulation and impunity: ethnographic notes from Uttar Pradesh %V 58 %A L Michelutti %D 2020 %P 21-42 %J Commonwealth and Comparative Politics %K Impunity, electoral manipulation, authority, electoral complaints, criminality %L discovery10092740 %O This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. %X This article explores how electoral manipulation intersects with issues of impunity in a constituency in Western Uttar Pradesh, North India. By casting electoral manipulation as a tool to obtain, maintain and enhance impunity this article argues that there is often more at stake in manipulating elections than simply winning. More specifically it shows how an holistic ethnography of ‘electoral seasons’ sheds light on the kinds of authority and legitimacy produced by the visible non-punishment of electoral manipulations and in so doing offers new insights into ongoing debates in the anthropology of power, leadership and the law.