Research

PhD from IISER Pune under Prof. M.S. Santhanam. Sociophysics — using statistical mechanics to understand elections and social systems.

Research Areas

Universal Laws in Elections

Developed the Random Voting Model — a parameter-free analytical framework showing that democratic elections across 34+ countries exhibit robust macroscopic universalities in margins, turnouts, and competitiveness.

Social Network Dynamics

Studied the physics of echo chambers and polarization. Proposed stochastic perturbations ('random nudges') as mechanisms to destabilize extreme consensus and promote cohesion in social networks.

Statistical Physics of Complex Systems

Applying tools from statistical mechanics — scaling laws, universality classes, phase transitions — to systems far beyond traditional physics: elections, social dynamics, and collective behavior.

Publications

Nature Research Highlight

Universal Statistics of Competition in Democratic Elections

Physical Review Letters, 134, 017401 (2025)

Preprint

Voter Turnouts Govern Key Electoral Statistics

arXiv:2501.01896 (2025)

Journal Article

Depolarization of opinions on social networks through random nudges

Physical Review E, 108, 034307 (2023)

Op-Ed

The physics and maths of keeping elections fair and representative

The Hindu (2024)

Explore the data interactively at electioninsights.in