Election Commission

Locating Rahul Gandhi’s “disqualification” within the legal-constitutional frameworks en­ables us to generate evaluative questions for thinking about constitutional democracy: What are the objectives of disqualification and how integral is it to achieving accredited and nor­mative standards of democracy?

Ironically, installing rule by manipulation is likely to be counterproductive.

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The most significant development of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Punjab was the victory of the Congress, making the state an outlier in almost all of India, except for Kerala. Neither the Bharatiya Janata Party’s narrative of national security nor its strong leader could find much traction in the state. The significant loss of the core social constituency’s (read the Sikhs) support of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the decline or almost decimation of the Aam Aadmi Party were important developments of this election.

The first Lok Sabha election results after the formal creation of Telangana and its wider implications for both state and national politics are assessed. Coming as it did, within a few months of the state assembly polls, the electorate in the state made a clear distinction between the earlier state election verdict and the present verdict in the national election. What factors contributed to this change and what are the implications for the politics in the state?