The phrase ‘criminalisation of politics’ entered the Indian lexicon in 1993 when it was used by the Vohra Committee which had been set up “to take stock of all available information about the activities of crime syndicates/mafia organisations which had developed links with and were being protected by government functionaries and political personalities”. This high-powered […]
General Elections 2014 marked social media platforms as a major tool to impact the dynamics of politics. It is no news that social media played a key role to spread fake news, hate speech, and paid news to mislead voters. Hence, prior to the Lok Sabha 2019, Election Commission of India (ECI), along with the […]
Today’s innovation becomes the norm for tomorrow. This can be rightly said about the social media’s role in election campaigning in India. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, political parties were exploring this medium for their campaign to influence ‘online’ voters through the virtual mass media. However, by the time for Lok Sabha 2019 election […]
In disallowing voters from knowing the identity of donors, the scheme is even more opaque now Last month, an investigative series on electoral bonds by independent journalist Nitin Sethi, with the help of Right to Information (RTI) activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd), exposed how the BJP leadership misled the Election Commission (EC) and Parliament on […]
The government decided to issue electoral bonds as a money bill. This was unconstitutional because electoral bonds are not covered by the definition of ‘money bill’ in the Constitution. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the sole authority to issue currency under Section 31 of the RBI Act, was approached four days before the announcement […]
The idea of social media as a force-multiplier in politics has gained virality in our minds, especially in last four years. According to Datareportal’s Digital 2019: India report, 1 out of total population of 1.361 billion, around 41% i.e. 560 million Indians are active users of internet and total no. of active social media users […]
Systemic corruption and sponsored criminalization have corroded the fundamental core of elective democracy and consequently, the constitutional governance. On one hand there is a free flow of unaccounted money at the disposal of political parties during elections and on the other hand, criminal elements have been playing a major role in the electoral process in […]
“The voter [in India] is subject to the law of the two ‘Ms’, money and muscle.” – Christophe Jaffrelot (2002) I sometimes wonder whether we can ever hope to realise the aspirations of our freedom fighters, who sacrificed so much to gain independence from colonial rule. Sadly, foreign domination has been replaced in some measure […]
देश के किसी भी सिस्टम में कमियां ख़त्म नहीं होंगी जब तक पोलिटिकल सिस्टम में कमियां ख़त्म नहीं होंगी, कानून को लागु करने के लिए संस्थाएं हैं, उन संस्थाओं के ऊपर भी पोलिटिकल कण्ट्रोल हैं, डायरेक्ट या इनडायरेक्ट यह एक अलग बात है लेकिन कानून व्यवस्था और क्रिमिनल जस्टिस सिस्टम काम नहीं कर सकता जब […]
The very folks who gave us RTI Act are screaming blue murder as political parties are brought under the transparency regime. Their apprehensions are misplaced and arguments misinformed. June 3, 2013 turned out to be very similar to July 8, 2002. How and why? On June 3, 2013, the central information commission (CIC) announced a […]