Replication Data for: Getting on the Grid: A Field Experiment on Bottom-Up Political Pressure and Access to Essential Public Serviceshttps://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/EO04JHThomas, AnjaliGaikwad, NikharHarvard Dataverse2026-03-092026-03-09T20:02:52ZWater is essential for human life, yet governments frequently leave vulnerable citizens to rely on informal channels for access. What can motivate governments to provide public services such as water to citizens trapped in informality? We theorize how accessing state services involves distinct strategic interactions between citizens, bureaucrats, and politicians at different formalization stages. A large factorial field experiment in Mumbai's informal settlements reveals that a bureaucratic facilitation drive significantly improved citizens' ability to access municipal water connections in policy-eligible settlements, but only when combined with a bottom-up political coordination campaign targeting elected officials. While bureaucratic assistance helped citizens through the petitioning stage of the formalization process, political pressure was needed to ensure service delivery in the infrastructural stage more open to political influence. Our findings illuminate how specific citizen empowerment campaigns reshape the incentives of otherwise reluctant bureaucrats and politicians to provide marginalized groups their basic human rights.Social Sciencespublic service provisionfield experimentbureaucratic politicscollective actionurban politicscivil society organizations2026-03-09Thomas, Anjali2026-02-09Thomas, A., & Gaikwad, N. (2026). Replication Data for: Getting on the Grid: A Field Experiment on Bottom-Up Political Pressure and Access to Essential Public Services [Data set]. Harvard Dataverse. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/EO04JH <br></br>ML Infomap. 2011. Mumbai Ward Boundaries and Census Information, 2011. Princeton University Geospatial Center. Shapefile. <br></br>BMC Election Department. MCGM General Election 2017, 2017 Winner Election Candidates Gazette. Available at https://portal.mcgm.gov.in. <br></br>This dataset is made available with limited information on how it can be used. You may wish to communicate with the Contact(s) specified before use.