Aam Aadmi Party: The ‘common’ party

In the summer of 2011, Anna Hazare, a Maharashtra-based social activist, started a fast-unto-death protest in the national capital’s Ramlila Maidan, seeking a ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’ to fight corruption. The movement ‘India Against Corruption’ was quick to catch the public imagination, pulling thousands into the sprawling grounds at the heart of Delhi, as it grabbed … Read more

A grey birthday for the Election Commission of India

Numbers that baffle in Maharashtra. | Photo Credit: ANI “The executive Government is instructing or managing things in such a manner that those people who do not belong to them either racially, culturally or linguistically, are being excluded from being brought on the electoral rolls. Electoral rolls are a most fundamental thing in a democracy… … Read more

BJP government in Delhi likely to be sworn in by Feb. 19-20; to prioritise clean water, better civic infrastructure

BJP candidates celebrate their victory in the Delhi Assembly elections. File | Photo Credit: PTI The swearing-in ceremony of the BJP government in Delhi is likely to take place on February 19 or 20 and the new dispensation will give priority to clean drinking water supply, improved civic infrastructure, among other things, party leaders said. … Read more

Atishi claims ‘internal tussle’ in BJP over portfolio allocation

Atishi, Acting Chief Minister of Delhi, addresses a press conference at AAP HQ in New Delhi on February 14, 2025. | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap Outgoing Delhi Chief Minister Atishi on Friday (February 14, 2025) said “internal conflicts” are happening among BJP MLAs over portfolio allocation and accused the party of making excuses to … Read more

Aaditya Thackeray meets Arvind Kejriwal, flags concerns over electoral irregularities

AAP leader Sanjay Singh with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Sanjay Raut addresses media after meeting AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal at his temporary residence in New Delhi on February 13, 2025. | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray met Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal … Read more

How does welfare politics translate into votes?

Kailash, KK (2024), ‘The Politics of Welfare: The BJP and the Discerning Voter’, Studies in Indian Politics, 12 (2) 228-250, 2024, Lokniti, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. Right from the time of its independence, India has had to contend with extreme inequality and a large population of poor people. While there have been … Read more

Infighting within BJP preventing selection of Delhi CM, says AAP

BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj at a Ravidas temple in New Delhi on Wednesday on the occasion of Guru Ravidas Jayanti. | Photo Credit: ANI The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the “delay in selecting a Chief Minister”, claiming that people are facing hardships because of the lack … Read more

Congress-AAP should have fought Delhi polls together, their unity strongly needed: Amartya Sen

Advocating a “strong need” for unity between the Congress and the Aam Admi Party (AAP), Nobel laureate Professor Amartya Sen said that the two parties should have fought the Delhi elections together with mutually agreed commitments. Speaking to PTI during an exclusive interview at his ancestral home here in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, Mr. Sen … Read more

BJP poll committees meet to discuss Delhi election result

Union Minister and BJP National President JP Nadda, centre, Union Minister Harsh Malhotra, right, the party’s National Vice President Baijayant Jay Panda, second right, and Delhi President Virendra Sachdeva, second left, and others during the party’s election committee meeting on January 9, 2025. File | Photo Credit: PTI The Delhi BJP’s various poll committees on … Read more

Freebies by political parties: Delhi HC refuses to hear plea, asks petitioner to move SC

Image for representative purpose | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (February 12, 2025) refused to examine a plea against “freebies” and cash-oriented schemes by political parties ahead of elections, noting the Supreme Court was already hearing a similar issue. A bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao … Read more

Social justice and a lost chance by a Prime Minister

‘Manmohan Singh and the technocratic, Delhi-based Congress managers interpreted the 2009 results as an endorsement of the employment guarantee scheme, or even the U.S. nuclear deal’  | Photo Credit: AFP At the first official state dinner of his presidency, on November 24, 2009, Barack Obama, the first non-white President of the United States, hosted Manmohan … Read more

BJP urges Delhi L-G to restore ‘Sheesh Mahal’ to original state

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva during a protest against the ‘sheesh mahal’. | Photo Credit: file photo Two days after winning the Delhi Assembly election, the BJP on Monday said its Chief Minister will not occupy “Sheesh Mahal”, referring to the 6, Flagstaff Road bungalow where Arvind Kejriwal stayed as the Chief Minister from 2015 … Read more

We failed to get anti-BJP votes of Dalits, minorities: Delhi Congress chief

Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav. | Photo Credit: file photo The Congress’s Delhi unit chief, Devender Yadav, on Monday said the party’s failure to get the votes of Dalits and minorities who are “uncomfortable with the politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party” dented its prospects in the Assembly poll. “Dalits and minorities who are uncomfortable … Read more

Delhi govt formation LIVE updates: BJP begins talks to pick next Delhi CM, likely to stake claim to power soon

BJP National General Secretary B.L. Santosh, Delhi BJP chief Virender Sachdeva, party national vice-president Baijayant Panda, party MP Bansuri Swaraj pose for a picture with newly elected party MLAs Parvesh Verma and others at Delhi BJP Office in New Delhi on February 9, 2025. | Photo Credit: ANI The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all … Read more

Sanjay Raut questions Anna Hazare’s silence on BJP’s corruption

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut suggested that the Delhi poll results might have been different if the AAP and Congress had formed an alliance. File | Photo Credit: ANI Social activist Anna Hazare has expressed satisfaction over Arvind Kejriwal’s defeat in the recent Delhi Assembly polls, according to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut. … Read more

L-G’s actions, excise probe, AAP-da led to AAP’s election setback

Power play: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Delhi Lt. Governor V.K. Saxena during the foundation stone laying and inauguration ceremony of various development projects, in New Delhi. File | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar In the first week of January, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign for the Delhi Assembly election started with Prime Minister … Read more

Delhi election results: Fewer MLAs with criminal cases; average asset value surges

Association for Democratic Reforms. File Photo: X/@adrspeaks Thirty-one of the 70 candidates elected to the eighth Delhi Assembly have declared criminal cases against their names, according to poll rights body ADR. The figure is lower than the 43 MLAs in the seventh assembly who had declared criminal cases. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and … Read more

‘Shameless display…’: Swati Maliwal criticises Atishi for celebratory dance after Kalkaji win

Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal criticised the outgoing Delhi Chief Minister Atishi after the latter was seen celebrating her victory from the Kalkaji constituency in the assembly elections. File | Photo Credit: PTI Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal criticised the outgoing Delhi Chief Minister Atishi after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader was seen celebrating … Read more

Revamping Yamuna riverfront top priority: BJP’s Parvesh Verma

BJP candidate from New Delhi Assembly constituency Parvesh Verma holds a portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid celebration outside a counting center after claiming victory in the Delhi Assembly polls during the counting of votes, in New Delhi, on February 8, 2025. | Photo Credit: PTI BJP leader Parvesh Verma, who is one of … Read more

Delhi CM Atishi submits resignation to L-G Saxena

Delhi Chief Minister Atishi on Sunday (February 9, 2025) met Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena and submitted her resignation to him at the Delhi Secretariat. File | Photo Credit: PTI Delhi Chief Minister Atishi on Sunday (February 9, 2025) met Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena and submitted her resignation to him at the Delhi Secretariat. Even though … Read more