-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...

-The Hindu PM-KISAN and a nationalistic campaign seem to have worked for the BJP In November last year, thousands of farmers marched to Parliament to highlight the agrarian crisis and demand higher crop prices, full loan waivers and drought relief. There were quite a few such protests in 2018, and considering their scale, many believed that it was likely that the discontentment of farmers, who also make up an important voting bloc...

-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...

-Newsclick.in Like always, several myths are being propagated like – the irrelevance of economic issues or the supremacy of nationalism. But what is the truth? Like all elections everywhere in the world, India’s general election this year too has created its own mythology. Some of it was – understandably – created during the election campaign while some have been generated after the results were out and the BJP-led alliance emerged as a...

-The Hindu The general election saw serious questions being posed to the Election Commission. The 17th Lok Sabha must deliberate on them The biggest election in the world has finally come to a successful end for which the three Election Commissioners and their 12 million staff deserve appreciation. Unfortunately, what deserved to be remembered as a subject of national pride became mired in several controversies. At the top of the list was...