The Election Commission’s decision to implement the recent Supreme Court judgment to make information about criminal background of candidates available to voters, has stirred a hornet’s nest. It has been alleged that the Supreme Court and the Election Commission (EC) have transgressed into the legislative arena. Each organ of the state must perform its assigned […]
It needs to be reiterated that the judgement is not about disqualifying people from contesting elections, it is about disclosure of the criminal background of the candidates, if any.India is often referred to it as a vibrant and vigorous democracy. This might well be justified compared to a large number of other countries that gained […]
THE founding fathers of the newly independent India resolved to constitute the country into a ‘democratic republic’.A democracy, according to one definition, is ‘the form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.’ The same dictionary describes […]
The author of this essay is Apoorva Singh (3rd year student from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun). ADR collaborated with the Centre for Human Rights and Disability Studies (CHRDS), Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla, for the National Article Writing Competition on “Electoral Rights of Persons with Disabilities”. This essay has been published […]
The authors of this essay are Ananya Singh and Divyansh Gera (2nd year students from Maharaja Surajmal Institute, New Delhi). ADR collaborated with the Centre for Human Rights and Disability Studies (CHRDS), Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla, for the National Article Writing Competition on “Electoral Rights of Persons with Disabilities”. This essay has been […]
The author of this essay is Rangoli Singh (2nd year student from Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla). ADR collaborated with the Centre for Human Rights and Disability Studies (CHRDS), Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla, for the National Article Writing Competition on “Electoral Rights of Persons with Disabilities”. This essay has been published under […]
The 130th Amendment Bill’s framing betrays its political motive. Ajit Ranade on why it’s not about keeping criminals out of power In late February, a Delhi court discharged all 23 accused in the excise policy case, ruling there was “no overarching conspiracy or criminal intent” in the policy at issue. One of the accused had spent 530 […]
Cash transfers fundamentally alter the relationship between the state and the voter. They create a one-way flow — the government gives, the citizen receives. Gratitude begins to substitute accountability. After years of delay, Mumbai is finally headed for a municipal election. For nearly half a decade, India’s richest city has been governed not by elected […]
– An article by Maj Gen Anil Verma (Retd) (Head of ADR) and Ms Shelly Mahajan (Program and Research Manager (Political Party Watch) at ADR) There is a need for intervention to ensure healthy electoral competition and to diversify the sources of political funding. Otherwise, it is always the citizens at large who end up […]
Bihar’s pre-poll handouts were part of a political pattern in India. So what do cash transfers mean for price stability, welfare outcomes and fiscal management? Conditional cash transfers are found to work, but a universal basic income (UBI) deserves consideration too. What happens when a helicopter drops a large amount of cash on a local […]