The Election Commission’s lack of spine is just one of the many institutional lapses that have cast a long shadow on this election.

In this issue

31-05-202430 STORIES

Letters

Readers respond to Frontline’s coverage.

Books

Vampire bacteria, Tarapur reactor renewal, and uncovering Fermi’s exotic particle prophecy

How some bacteria are attracted to blood; why scientists are extending life of Tarapur nuclear plant; and how a 1949 prediction is proven true now.

R. Ramachandran

Politics

Editor’s Note: The fall of the Election Commission

The watchdog must reclaim its autonomy and backbone to safeguard democracy’s “soft guardrails”.

Vaishna Roy

Politics

BJP’s subversion of the electoral process and Modi’s communal rhetoric undermine credentials of democracy in India

It is time to use the only democratic weapon people have, the vote, responsibly.

Neera Chandhoke

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Politics

Machine’s whim versus people’s will

As EVM vulnerabilities challenge integrity of elections, the obsession with technology overlooks concerns about verifiability and transparency.

M.G. Devasahayam

Politics

Election Commission of India: Mala fide or merely incompetent?

The current ECs are twisting the knife in the deeply wounded electoral process. They have taken a weak, inadequate system and murdered its soul.

Palanivel Thiaga Rajan

Politics

Identity politics, polarisation, and development aspirations mark the electoral battle for Bihar’s Mithilanchal

The numerically high Brahmins and Muslims once voted jointly for the Congress here, but that changed after the Ram temple shilanyas in 1989.

Ismat Ara

Politics

Congress fails to get its act together in Madhya Pradesh

It could have challenged the BJP in several seats given the widespread dissatisfaction over civic issues and dissent within the saffron party.

Anand Mishra

Cinema

Manoj Bajpayee: ‘Hindi filmmakers should go back to the drawing board’

After COVID, Hindi mainstream cinema is confused, and there is a “desperate attempt to entertain” that was not there before, says the actor.

Trisha Gupta

World Affairs

Starving and homeless in the UK

The UK might be one of the world’s richest countries, but about 2.5 million of its people depend on food banks. And this is just one crisis.

Arvind Sivaramakrishnan

Columns

Election Commission: No longer neutral

In the 2024 campaign season, the ECI has chosen to wear blindfolds when it comes to India’s ruling party.

Saba Naqvi

Politics

In a first, corruption becomes a key election issue in West Bengal

But will voters be able to overcome the temptation of ruling TMC’s welfare schemes?

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Voters standing in a queue to cast their votes during the third phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024, in Kamrup on May 7.

Politics

Assam: New boundaries, new uncertainties

As demographic changes from delimitation blur traditional voting patterns, the BJP is prompted to reach out to “Miya” Muslims for the first time.

Sushanta Talukdar

Politics

Delhi battleground: How AAP-Congress alliance takes on BJP amid Kejriwal’s arrest saga

The alliance aims to dent BJP’s dominance, banking on the sympathy wave towards Kejriwal’s imprisonment and issues like price rise and unemployment.

Ashutosh Sharma

Environment

‘Our excesses are the root cause of destruction elsewhere’: Arati Kumar-Rao

The environmental photographer, writer, and artist’s book, Marginlands, brings us stories from the forgotten fringes of the subcontinent.

Divya Gandhi

Politics

Remembering Abu Abraham, the cartoonist who bore witness

“Abu’s World”, an exhibition to commemorate his birth centenary, reminds us that his cartoons will always be ammunition in the war against hatred.

A.S. Panneerselvan

Politics

Shivraj Singh Chouhan: ‘Congress has declined to such an extent that candidates have lost faith in the party’

That the Congress candidate joined BJP in Indore is the peak of the party’s downfall, says the BJP stalwart from Madhya Pradesh.

Anand Mishra

Politics

Digvijaya Singh: ‘The very essence of democracy is at stake’

The veteran Congress leader says Prime Minister Modi is tightlipped on real issues like inflation, unemployment, and the crisis in Manipur.

Anand Mishra

Politics

Baramati: Which Pawar will the voters choose?

Sharad Pawar’s daughter and sitting MP Supriya Sule faces Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra in a fiercely contested battle.

Amey Tirodkar

Politics

Sharad Pawar: ‘Prime Minister Modi has lost his balance because he realises he is not returning to power’

The veteran politician takes apart the BJP’s “Abki baar 400 paar” campaign and foresees a repeat of the 2004 “India Shining” defeat for the party.

Amey Tirodkar

Politics

Kashmir faces a severe power supply crisis, but in the election, the vote is likely to be on Article 370

There is palpable discontent over the government’s failure to deliver on promised development following the scrapping of the State’s special status.

Irfan Amin Malik

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Politics

‘The election is an opportunity to end silence in Kashmir’: Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra

The PDP leader, who is contesting from Srinagar, says the Lok Sabha election is an occasion to connect with people after a huge political vacuum.

Sanhati Banerjee

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