The slow growth rate of the number of women contesting in elections is concerning. The trend makes it necessary to deconstruct the word ‘participation’ for the purpose of understanding what it actually means. Women constituted 48.41 per cent of India’s population in 2022, according to the latest available estimates from the World Bank. This would […]
It is now clear that the ECI had itself done this calculation but was holding back the total number of voters which it has now, after encouragement by the SC, magnanimously decided to disclose. The Election Commission of India has released the “absolute number of voters for all completed phases” in a press note issued […]
The Election Commission’s letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge makes the ECI appear to be one of the contestants in the electoral fray. As a longtime observer of the electoral and political scene in India, I write this with great anguish. What prompts this piece is the letter that the Election Commission of India (ECI) […]
After extolling the virtues of the current system, the judgment ends with two directions to the ECI. The 26 April 2024 judgment of the Supreme Court in what has come to be known as the EVM-VVPAT judgment, is not surprising but does leave some loose ends. Reading the entire judgment in totality, some parts […]
There have been ample and unambiguous signals that the electoral bonds story is far from over. On 26 March 2024, former Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary of India Subhash Chandra Garg wrote a piece titled Electoral Bonds Are Now History. Did the Government Let the Donors Down? As the dust was still settling down on […]
The original petition requested only for the EB scheme to be declared unconstitutional. The SC did that but went ahead and also issued directions to SBI and ECI to ensure full implementation of the judgment. This initiative of the apex court must be acknowledged and commended 8 pm of March 14, 2024, was somewhat reminiscent […]
This article is an interview of Prof Chhokar, Founder Member and Trustee of ADR, with The Hindu. The founder of Association for Democratic Reforms concedes that the disclosure of the electoral bond scheme will not reduce election expenditure. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) was the lead petitioner in the challenge to the electoral bonds scheme […]
Let’s aim for transparent funding trails and reduced influence of money on poll outcomes While “political party” is not entirely absent as a mention in India’s Constitution, it finds space only in the 10th Schedule, which was added in 1985, brought about by the introduction of an anti-defection law. Otherwise, could it be that the […]
The electoral bonds data in public domain, with secret numbers readable only by ultraviolet light, will continue to be parsed and investigated. But, we also need to, now, think beyond EBs. From its introduction to its cancellation, the road EBs took has made it clear that political party funding reforms are an absolute imperative. Three […]
You can read the article here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/electoral-bonds-five-facts-five-takeaways/amp_articleshow/108531290.cms. This article was originally published in TOI+.