Soni Mishra

PM-CARES has accumulated a huge corpus while spending very little, and its latest accounts have renewed questions about why the fund remains so opaque and largely beyond public scrutiny.

While the positive impact of cash transfer schemes aimed at women at the household level is well documented, the budgetary strain they impose on States and the extent to which they crowd out growth-enhancing spending warrant urgent attention.

Probably for the first time ever, the BJP is realising that its social media dominance and sheer number of followers cannot guarantee a connect with the youth, who value authenticity more than artificial aura.

Special courts set up to swiftly dispose of criminal cases against MPs and MLAs have failed to clear the backlog, with thousands of cases dragging on for years, exposing the limits of judicial mechanisms in holding powerful politicians accountable.

Adityanath has nurtured the image of being a no-nonsense administrator but continues to employ divisive and polarising rhetoric. With his position in the BJP ecosystem still not secure, his future will hinge on the forthcoming Assembly election.

The ECI is using Form 6, meant for first-time voters, to reinstate people removed during the SIR. Its changing declarations and demands for past voter or family records have drawn criticism as an ill-conceived burden for eligible voters.

Section 16 of the Act comes under scrutiny amid controversy surrounding CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

Protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar follow the precedent of the July agitation that ousted Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. His removal would be read as admitting the opposition’s charge, and protesters vow to continue.

A portrait of D.K. Shivakumar’s rise through the ranks in the Congress, his unyielding loyalty to the party, and his role as the primary strategist countering the BJP in Karnataka.

The ECI’s decisions began to be tracked and critiqued by the opposition from 2017 onwards. Since then, the censure has only grown louder, with each exposé reducing the credibility of this once-venerated institution.