-The Indian Express Because democracy demands more than the counting of votes. The excitements of the recent general elections are over and the results have been finalised. The totality of the lessons from the elections will, of course, take a long time to emerge with full clarity, but a few simple thoughts about the organisation and use of our electoral system seem immediate. From the British, India has inherited a system of...

-IndiaSpend.com Bengaluru: Indian voters do not vote on the basis of  development or policies, according to a recent study, confirming the results of the 2019 general elections. Despite a raft of economic woes afflicting the country, ranging from joblessness to farm distress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has swept to power in India, winning 56% of seats. The study, ‘Do Citizens Enforce Accountability For Public Goods Provision?’, by Oxford University scholar Tanushree Goyal...

-Down to Earth Despite the rural hinterland being in the throes of agrarian distress, the incumbent coalition has won handsomely in these very areas The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has beaten all odds to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Prominent among these odds was the agrarian crisis that rural India is currently in the throes of. Since 2014, the country has suffered two major droughts and 850-odd...

-The Hindu With a high percentage of Muslims, Bihar’s Seemanchal region frames issues of representation and welfare In the ongoing general election, Seemanchal, a historically neglected and yet socially and politically significant region in Bihar, has once again registered a high voting percentage. Comprising four districts — Purnea, Katihar, Kishanganj and Araria — Seemanchal has a population of about 1 crore. It assumes sociopolitical significance owing to the large proportion of Muslims...

-Livemint.com * Over 40% of India is in the grip of abnormally dry conditions. Will the elections bring any relief? * The situation in Maharashtra is approaching the 2016-like crisis, when consecutive years of drought forced the state government to supply drinking water to Latur by train NEW DELHI: Between November of last year when Sharad Markad opened a cattle relief camp in drought-hit Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra and now, the price of...