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Political Gaming Scenarios

ScenarioMechanismProbabilityCounter
Whip prohibition reversed by future RS majorityRules of Procedure amendment by simple RS majorityModerate (10–15 years)Federal voting culture develops during the window; reversal becomes politically costly even without constitutional mandate
5% zone threshold gamed through pre-election alliancesParties form nominal alliances satisfying threshold but lacking governing coherenceModerateAnti-defection rules create friction; constructive no-confidence prevents opportunistic collapse without coherent alternative
OBC Development Dividend gamed by inflated HDI dataStates publish false OBC HDI improvementsLowNITI Aayog independently conducts five-yearly OBC HDR; states do not self-report
Council of States double majority used to block legitimate national policySmall-state coalition achieves 60% state-count majority to veto policy against larger-state interestsLow–moderate40% population requirement simultaneously prevents pure small-state domination; both conditions must be met
Phase 0 Finance Commission provision repealed by next governmentSimple parliamentary majority reverses fiscal guaranteeModerate (long-term)Political cost: any government that repeals fiscal protection for states that lost seat share faces those states' electoral consequences; self-interest maintains the provision