-The Economic Times At a little over 14%, India has the third-largest Muslim population in the world. Are Indian Muslims confronting the void? Political parties are no longer engaging with Muslims like they used to. This process of withdrawal and fracturing began with the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and carries on in 2019. Globally, the pathologisation of Muslims began after 9/11, which entrenched Islamophobia, and moved the discourse around minorities entirely towards terror,...
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EVM Miscounts, VVPATs and the Citizen's Right to a Secret, Verified Ballot -Rajendran Narayanan and Nikhil Dey
-TheWire.in Democracy cannot be held prisoner to random sampling, especially when the EC won’t tell us what happens if a discrepancy between EVM tally and VVPAT slips is detected. “Check one grain of rice, and you will know if the whole vessel of rice is cooked.” This is an analogy that is often used to show that a small sample is enough to be sure of the result. But what happens if...
More »Jagdeep S Chhokar, one of the founders and trustees of Association for Democratic Reforms, interviewed by Ajaz Ashraf (CaravanMagazine.in)
-CaravanMagazine.in India is often hailed for its Democracy, for empowering its poor and ordinary citizens to participate in the electoral process and play a role in shaping the country. This narrative has increasingly come under strain since the Supreme Court, through its March 2003 judgment in Union of India vs Association for Democratic Reforms, made it mandatory for candidates contesting elections to disclose their wealth, educational qualification, and criminal cases pending...
More »Civil Society Members Demand Counting of 'All VVPAT Slips' for 'Fullest Transparency'
-TheWire.in "If free and fair elections are integral to the running of our Democracy, the voter has to be provided with a mechanism where the casting of a vote is visible, and apparent to his or her understanding." New Delhi: Members of civil society have released a statement demanding the counting of all VVPAT slips for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Recommending that “the VVPAT slips be recognised as the ballot paper”, the...
More »From Plate to Plough: Cow and cane -Ashok Gulati
-The Indian Express Farm distress, particularly the stray cattle menace and the crisis in livestock sector, and mounting sugarcane arrears could dampen the BJP’s performance in UP. If one wants to know the quality of our evolving Democracy, one must watch the ongoing election campaign in India. It is great fun too. And nothing is more interesting than tracking it in Uttar Pradesh (UP), where the real political battle is being...
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