Backstory: Elections Are Contributing to the Coarseness of Our Public Discourse
A fortnightly column from The Wire s public editor.
File photo of Amit Shah and Narendra Modi. Photo: PTI
Rights5 hours ago
One of the major markers of Indian democracy has been the relatively uninterrupted conduct of elections. Much computer time has been spent describing, analysing and reporting on this exercise which has taken place with admirable regularity since 1952. S.Y. Quraishi, former chief election commissioner of India, begins his 2014 book,
An Undocumented Wonder The Making of the Great Indian Election, with a quote from V. Mitchell’s news report on the 2009 general election for the
Kerala Assembly polls | Pinarayi leans on religious metaphor to claim LDF would coast to victory
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Chennithala mocks the Chief Minister for invoking Lord Ayyappa on polling day
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Kerala Chief Minister and CPI (M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan after casting his vote at Pinarayi, Kerala, on Tuesday, April 6, 2021.
| Photo Credit: C.P. Sajit
Chennithala mocks the Chief Minister for invoking Lord Ayyappa on polling day
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said, arguably in a non-literal sense, that the deities of the land would bless the Left Democratic Front (LDF).
The government had stood with the people and succoured them during the catastrophic floods and later the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, seemingly metaphorically, that Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity of Sabarimala temple, would favour the government because it had taken care of the people. Other religions also backed the ruling front, he said.
Malfunctioning of EVMs and VVPAT machines was reported from a number of booths, but overall voting has been progressing at a brisk pace across the State.
One is a rural segment bordering the Western Ghats in central Travancore and the other is home to the country's pioneer IT hub here. But there is a common factor between these two constituencies in Kerala, where Assembly election is just days away.
Justice Indu Malhotra, Dissenting Hero Of The Sabarimala Case, Retires Today
by Swarajya Staff - Mar 12, 2021 11:34 AM
Justice Indu Malhotra
Snapshot
In the Sabarimala case, while others pontificated about equality under the law, Justice Indu Malhotra stood like a true hero.
In 2018, a woman judge stood as the lone hero in the disaster that was the Sabrimala case. Justice Indu Malhotra retires today (12 March).
She was the lone woman judge in the bench that wrote the majority judgement â a 4:1 decision, that forced the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala to open its doors to women in the 10-50 age group.
Justice Malhotra took a stand that would make her dissent and bat for religious freedom.