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Are Election Malpractices Undermining India's Claims of Being 'the World's Biggest Democracy'?

In recent years, the election process in India has been converted into one party’s fiefdom. Two sets of methods have been weaponised to subvert the verdict of the people, which are adopted at each stage of the electoral voting system. They are used before voting day, or on the voting day, and after the voting day.

https://thewire.in/government/election-malpractices-india-voter-rolls-evm 

Names from voter lists were allegedly deleted ahead of the Delhi elections, as well as Maharashtra state elections. Both occurred in quick succession after the Lok Sabha polls. This is an age-old method which has now been taken to new heights.

The root cause behind the voter registration manipulation is Rule 18 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, which allows for deletion of voter data without notice or an opportunity to be heard by the affected citizen. At the EC’s assurance, the Supreme Court also disposed of a PIL which challenged the constitutional validity of Rule 18.

to insert travelling voters of one party from other states (with duplicate identity cards) to polling booths in a state where elections are taking place, by duplicating Electronic Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers across states. This method was used, allegedly in Maharashtra and Delhi, to general acceptance. I

there is always the possibility of toppling the government already formed by buying out the MLA or MP.

Over the period 2015 to 2024 as many as 10 state governments led by opposition parties were toppled by the ruling party government at the Union. This is done by simply buying the MLAs of the state ruling party, with the goal of making them support the party with the largest financial ability to buy MLAs. The defence of the ruling party is that this method has historically been adopted for a long time.

by Santosh Mehrotra and Jagdeep Chhokar

09/06/2025

In the age of algorithm, we must revitalise the conversation on the ‘freedom of thought’

Social platforms have transformed how we communicate, often encouraging users to share without reflection. Rather than appealing to our reasoning faculties, these systems exploit cognitive biases, fostering addictive behaviours that erode our capacity for focused thought. This manipulation of attention has far-reaching implications, not only for individual cognition but also for collective autonomy.

https://theleaflet.in/digital-rights/in-the-age-of-algorithm-we-must-revitalise-the-conversation-on-the-freedom-of-thought 

Justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court once noted, “Minds are not changed in streets and parks as they once were. To an increasing degree, the more significant interchanges of ideas and shaping of public consciousness occur in mass and electronic media”. This observation underscores a shift from traditional public discourse to algorithmically mediated interaction, where information flows are technology driven.

A darker potential looms in the prospect of technologies capable of influencing, interpreting, or even controlling thought itself—akin to the phenomenon of “Doublethink”, to borrow from  Orwell’s ‘1984’, where individuals were compelled to abandon personal perception in favour of officially sanctioned narratives. In such a world, privacy of thought vanishes, replaced by surveillance so pervasive that even dreams or diary entries could incriminate.

The United Nations raised red flags in 2021 about the ethical risks of emerging neurotechnologies designed to decode, predict, or alter human thought. Companies like Meta and Neuralink are racing to develop brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that can convert neural activity into digital output in real-time. 

These systems could allow users to control devices with their thoughts but they also risk breaching the last bastion of human freedom: the mind itself. 

Despite its critical importance, the right to freedom of thought (‘FoT’) remains underdeveloped in both law and discourse.

Importantly, safeguarding FoT is not just the duty of governments. Citizens, too, must recognise its value. Thinking critically is neither easy nor always comfortable. It requires effort, courage, and openness to uncertainty. 

As noted, “Relatively few people want to think. Thinking troubles us; thinking tires us.” But the cost of neglecting this right may be far greater. If freedom of thought is eroded by invasive technologies, coercive platforms, or passive disinterest we risk losing not only our dignity and democracy, but our humanity itself. As we navigate the complexities of the digital age, we must ensure that the last refuge of freedom “the human mind” remains protected from prying eyes and manipulative hands.

by Mahima Garg

02/06/2025

In refusing to glorify the use of fear, violence, we may tap hidden strengths

In the spectrum of himsa and ahimsa, we are free to look at the whole story. The reward may not be complete freedom from fear, but in refusing to glorify the use of fear, we may tap hidden strengths.https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/in-refusing-to-glorify-the-use-of-fear-violence-we-may-tap-hidden-strengths-10025062/ ..(not turning the other cheek ) the worst forms of impotence are a consequence of rage, not nonviolence. The essence of how contemporary practitioners understand “ahimsa parmo dharma” is: If you act from a higher level of awareness, drawing on finer human emotions, you can work out effective, refined strategies to overcome injustice... Nonviolence defines victory as standing firm in your strength and having the willingness to co-exist, co-thrive with the “other”.