-The Hindu   The rising tide of female voters in 2014 might have had a concrete impact on the outcome of these elections, data shows. Despite the Election Commission's efforts to get more women registered to vote, the number of female electors (those registered to vote) grew much slower than the number of male electors, between 2009 and 2014, The Hindu found. Men registered to vote outnumber women by over 40 million, giving...

-The Indian Express   Contrary to conventional wisdom, the UPA lost despite an inclusive, growing economy.   Economists have been busy telling us that the economy decided the election result. We heard it during the campaign and they have been at it again in their post-mortems. They are wrong. Consider some evidence.   Most Indians live in rural areas. Elections are won and lost there. So for any government, it makes good electoral sense to look...

-The Times of India   SHILLONG: In a landmark judgement, the Meghalaya high court has said Bangladeshi nationals who had settled in the state before March 24, 1971, should be treated as Indians and enrolled in the voters' list. The order came on a petition filed by more than 40 Bangladeshi refugees who were denied enrolment in the electoral roll on the grounds that their citizenship was "doubtful". The refugees from Amjong...

-The Hindustan Times   The Aadhaar scheme, touted as ‘gamechanger' by the UPA government, ended up hurting the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, said outgoing Union food and consumer affairs minister KV Thomas. "The Aadhaar initiative, and the objective of linking welfare schemes with it, didn't find favour with the people. The decision was not appreciated by voters," Thomas told HT on the eve of the Congress Working Committee meeting on Monday,...

-Live Mint   If anything, the UPA has been punished by the voters for moving away from its core agenda of entitlement-based politics The victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 elections will remain a watershed moment for Indian democracy in many ways than one. Coming at a time when the economy is in a serious mess, the victory of the BJP and the defeat of the Congress party and...