The recently released report by Lokniti-CSDS provides a data-driven analysis of digital platforms’ role in 2024 elections, showing how they complemented traditional door-to-door efforts in mobilising voters. This is Part 2 of the study. Campaign songs are increasingly vital tools for political communication, offering a catchy and accessible medium to amplify candidates’ messages and mobilise … Read more
The EC communique to the Bihar CEO said that Aadhaar should be accepted as a proof of identity and not as a proof of citizenship in terms of Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act 2016. File. | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday (September 9, 2025) directed Bihar’s Chief Electoral Officer … Read more
Nainar Nagenthran. File | Photo Credit: Bijoy Ghosh BJP Tamil Nadu president Nainar Nagenthran said on Monday that he could not comprehend why Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran walked out of the National Democratic Alliance. He felt that Mr. Dhinakaran might not be able to accept AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami being projected as the chief ministerial candidate. Mr. Nagenthran, who was previously with the AIADMK, recalled his association with … Read more
The Supreme Court on Monday (September 8, 2025) directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to include Aadhaar as the 12th in a list of 11 ‘indicative’ documents, any of which persons seeking inclusion or exclusion in the electoral roll of Bihar could file as proof of their identity, during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision … Read more
An Election Commission of India (ECI) note submitted on Monday (September 1, 2025) in the Supreme Court showed that requests to delete/exclude names from the Bihar draft electoral roll “overwhelmed” claims for inclusion by almost six times between August 22 and August 30, 2025. August 22, 2025, was when the court enabled voters to use … Read more
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (September 2, 2025), for the first time, reacted to the episode in which a youth abused him and his mother during the Opposition’s Voter Adhikar Yatra (Voters Rights March) in Darbhanga on August 27. A political row had erupted in poll-bound Bihar after a video of the incident went … Read more
A women checking the names of the voters who have not submitted their documents for verification on the last day of the SIR excercise at Block Develpoment Office, Nalanda Dist of Bihar on Monday, September 01, 2025. | Photo Credit: R V Moorthy As the Supreme Court continues to hear a case against the Special … Read more
Powerful perpetrators are rarely made accountable for their actions, and in that backdrop, the conviction and life sentencing of Prajwal Revanna, former Janata Dal (Secular) Member of Parliament and grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, for a heinous crime comes as a relief. This is the first of the four cases of rape … Read more
A women checks names of voters who have not submitted their documents for verification, at the Block Develpoment Office in Bihar’s Nalanda district on September 1, 2025. | Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy Even as the deadline for filing claims and objections to the draft electoral rolls of Bihar ended on Monday (September 1, 2025), the … Read more
Election Commission of India (ECI) plans to issue new voter identity cards to all electors of Bihar after the completion of the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls in the State, officials said on August 31, 2025 | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Election Commission of India (ECI) plans to issue new voter identity … Read more
Leaders of the INDIA bloc demonstrated solidarity on the final day of the alliance’s Voter Adhikar Yatra (voter rights rally) against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar on Monday (September 1, 2025). The rally, which was launched on August 17 in Sasaram of Rohtas district, ended in Patna, with Congress president Mallikarjun … Read more
Representative image | Photo Credit: The Hindu The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, on Friday (August 29, 2025) held a meeting with representatives of all major political parties of the State, where the representatives were informed about rearrangement of polling booths. As per the new arrangement a polling booth will have … Read more
Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins elections by “stealing votes”, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleged on Friday (August 29, 2025) during his ongoing Voter Adhikar Yatra. The Congress leader was addressing a public meeting in Siwan district of Bihar, along with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, Vikassheel Insaan … Read more
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. File | Photo Credit: ANI Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday (August 29, 2025) announced the launch of a scheme to provide financial assistance to one woman from every family in the State to start an employment venture of their choice. Mr. Kumar said a proposal in this regard … Read more
A Booth Level Officer (BLO) checks documents at Jogbani, a municipal council area of Araria District in Bihar on July 8, 2025. | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Supreme Court agreed to hear on September 8, 2025 applications filed by political parties, including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, seeking … Read more
A Booth Level Officer (BLO) checks documents at Jogbani, a municipal council area of Araria District in Bihar on July 8, 2025. | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Supreme Court agreed to hear on September 8, 2025 applications filed by political parties, including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, seeking … Read more
A Booth Level Officer checks documents during the Special Intensive Revision drive at Kamalpur village in Bihar’s Purnia district on July 8, 2025. | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap As the Election Commission of India (ECI) started issuing notices this week to Bihar voters whose documents have not been found satisfactory during the ongoing Special … Read more
The voter adhikar yatra (voter rights procession), which began from Sasaram in Rohtas district, has entered its third leg covering 15 districts so far, and has turned into a major crowd-puller. Two main figures, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, have been drawing large gatherings and receiving loud applause … Read more
Delhi High Court. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (August 27, 2025) directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to consider the plea of political party Akhil Bharatiya Jan Sangh for using a common election symbol in the upcoming Bihar assembly polls. The party claimed it was established in … Read more
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday (August 26, 2025) alleged that stealing of votes started from the Gujarat Assembly election in 2012, and it continued at the national level in the 2014 Lok Sabha election when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister for the first time. Mr. Gandhi said that a few years ago, Union … Read more
The recent controversy on X between a hepatologist and an Indian chess Grand Master, on whether practitioners of traditional medicine can claim to be doctors, has sparked much commentary on the role and the status of practitioners of traditional Indian medicine systems such as Ayurveda and Unani, in India. Committees, governments, perspectives The burning issue … Read more
“No attack on the dignity and honour of the Dalit community will be tolerated. We will file a case under appropriate sections against this shameful act,” Congress leader Pawan Khera said. File | Photo Credit: ANI The Congress on Monday (August 25, 2025) accused the Bihar BJP of using “casteist” and “racist” comments against opposition … Read more
The Supreme Court has directed parties to issue instructions to their respective Booth Level Agents to assist voters. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu Bihar voters challenging the deletion of their names from the draft electoral rolls by submitting Aadhaar cards in the absence of any of the 11 indicative documents as directed by the … Read more
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi during the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, in Bihar. Photo: AICC via PTI Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (August 24, 2025) alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is an institutionalised way of stealing votes in Bihar. He however asserted that the Opposition will … Read more
BJP accused the Opposition of indulging in propaganda after the Supreme Court said that voters excluded during the ongoing SIR exercise in Bihar can submit Aadhaar along with other documents, asserting that the apex court did not say Aadhaar alone can be a valid document to get voting rights. | Photo Credit: The Hindu The … Read more
The Centre’s decision to include caste enumeration in the next national Census marks a sharp departure for the ruling BJP from its previous position. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in 2024 targeted the Congress election manifesto promise of a caste census as a reflection of its ‘urban Naxal’ thinking. During the general election last year, … Read more
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, on Friday (August 22, 2025), continued his attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission during the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bhagalpur, amid the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise underway in Bihar. Mr. Gandhi, while addressing a public meeting … Read more
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi interacting with makhana farmers in Katihar district of Bihar on August 23, 2025. Photo: X/@RahulGandhi via PTI In the second leg of the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ through poll-bound Bihar, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday (August 23, 2025) continued his attack on the BJP, Prime Minister … Read more
Election Commission of India said documents of 98.2% electors have already been received with eight more days left for people to file claims and objections to the draft electoral roll of Bihar published as part of the intensive revision of voters’ list. The Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Sunday (August 24, 2025) that … Read more
Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) claimed that the BJP’s sole agenda is to use Nitish Kumar till the Bihar assembly elections and then “discard” him as they want to install their own chief minister by forming the government through the “backdoor” with the people of the state not ready to give … Read more