Amit Sadhukhan | | Published 25.12.20, 12:28 AM
The Covid-19 pandemic could be seen as an experiment to test democracy’s responsiveness towards, and its ability to overcome, widespread sufferings through reasoned public opinion and elections. Elections have taken place amidst the pandemic, be it in the United States of America or in Bihar. Do these elections in the midst of the pandemic sufficiently reflect people’s anger, political discontent and, therefore, the sensitivity of democracy?
Comparisons of electoral outcomes between the US and Bihar might appear to be disproportionate in terms of State capacity to address the crisis. Nonetheless, the results, be they in the US or those in Bihar, raise more questions than answers about democracy’s sensibility in the hour of crisis. Institutions devoted to the safeguarding of democracy by upholding the rights of