A political self-portrait, in seven dimensions
Indian politics does not fit on a left–right line.
Every question here is a real trade-off already being argued in India — who pays, who is covered, who decides. Answer them and you get a seven-axis reading of where you actually stand, not a label someone else picked for you.
WelfareExpansive state provisionMinimal/targeted provision
Who the state should support, and how far that support should reach.
- Free
- Anonymous
- No account
Choose your length
Both use the same scoring. The longer one is steadier per axis.
Why seven and not two
On one line, these three are neighbours.
Shastri, Ambedkar and Periyar all read as economic left. On seven axes they stop agreeing — on who the remedy belongs to, and on whether Delhi should decide anything at all.
Averaged from welfare and markets — three very different politics, three and a half points apart.The same three, scored −10 to +10 on each axis. Federalism alone separates Periyar from Ambedkar by nearly the whole scale.
The seven axes
Each is scored on its own, from one pole to the other. You can sit anywhere on any of them.
The seven
spread
Federalism
Whether Delhi or the states should hold the deciding vote.
The argument on this axis
Centre
States
Four ways to keep going after the result.
Questions people ask
What LokDisha measures, how it scores, and what it does with your answers.
What is LokDisha?
LokDisha (also written Lok Disha; लोकदिशा, “the people’s direction”) is a free Indian political compass test at lokdisha.org: a quiz that maps your views across seven dimensions of Indian politics — welfare, markets, caste recognition, nationhood, state authority, culture, and federalism — and shows which Indian parties and leaders sit nearest to your answers. It is not related to the government’s DISHA committees (District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committees) or to the Disha Foundation NGO, which share part of the name. It is an independent, non-partisan project with no party affiliation.
How is LokDisha different from the Political Compass test?
The classic political compass test squeezes politics into two Western axes: economic left–right and libertarian–authoritarian. Indian politics doesn’t fit that grid — caste recognition, religious nationhood, Centre–state power and welfare-versus-markets each move independently. LokDisha is a political compass test built for India: seven India-specific dimensions, with questions about MSP, reservations, UCC and the choices Indian politics actually argues about.
Is LokDisha free?
Yes. LokDisha is completely free — no account, no payment, no sign-up. It works in English and Hindi, on phones and desktops.
How does LokDisha’s scoring work?
Every question offers five real policy positions running from one pole of an axis to the other. Your answers on each axis average into a score from −10 to +10, computed on our servers. An honest “Not familiar enough to say” option drops a question instead of guessing for you — and an axis with too many skips says “not enough info” rather than faking a number.
Which parties and leaders does LokDisha compare me with?
Nine major parties — BJP, Congress, AAP, CPI(M), TMC, DMK, SP, BSP and Shiv Sena (UBT) — plus forty-three current and forty-four historical figures — from Lal Bahadur Shastri, Ambedkar and Vajpayee to Kalam, Ratan Tata and Periyar. Each is placed on the same seven axes from their public record, with the evidence shown for every placement.
Does LokDisha tell me who to vote for?
No. LokDisha shows proximity, not advice: which parties sit nearest to your answers on each axis, with no match percentages and no endorsements. Most people discover no single party owns them — their nearest party changes from axis to axis.
Do I need an account? What happens to my answers?
No account, name, email or phone number is ever needed. Your answers power LokDisha itself — your own reading, and aggregate features like comparing it with how everyone else answered.
How long does the test take?
The quick version is 32 questions — about 6 minutes. The full version is 53 questions — about 10 minutes — and gives a steadier reading on every axis.