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The outcome of the Delhi Assembly elections has taken even the most discerning of psephologists and the most ardent of supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party by surprise. The speed and amplitude of the turn-around in the Party's political fortunes hardly have any parallel in the electoral history of India. Who would have thought it possible a couple of months ago that the all conquering BJP juggernaut will come to a grinding halt in the National Capital and will refuse to budge despite all the fr...

The outcome of the Delhi Assembly elections has taken even the most discerning of psephologists and the most ardent of supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party by surprise. The speed and amplitude of the turn-around in the Party's political fortunes hardly have any parallel in the electoral history of India. Who would have thought it possible a couple of months ago that the all conquering BJP juggernaut will come to a grinding halt in the National Capital and will refuse to budge despite all the fr...

VOICE OF "COMMON CAUSE" CAGED PARROT IN THE DOCK Much has been written about the Supreme Court's decisions in the PILs on 2G licences and Coal allocations that have dealt a body blow to crony capitalism by mandating the wholesale cancellation of telecom licences and coal block allocations granted by the central government in violation of the Constitutional principles of equity and custodianship of national resources. These decisions have also forced the government to adopt ...

The Apex Court pronounced its much awaited verdict on a bunch of public interest petitions on the patent illegalities in the allocation of coal blocks for captive mining, popularly referred to as Coalgate, on August 25, 2014. The machinations leading to this scam of epic proportions were exposed in a writ petition filed by Common Cause and six distinguished former public servants in October 2012. Our petition, extracted in the January-March 2013 issue of this journal, highlighted the brazenne...

The Apex Court pronounced its much awaited verdict on a bunch of public interest petitions on the patent illegalities in the allocation of coal blocks for captive mining, popularly referred to as Coalgate, on August 25, 2014. The machinations leading to this scam of epic proportions were exposed in a writ petition filed by Common Cause and six distinguished former public servants in October 2012. Our petition, extracted in the January-March 2013 issue of this journal, highlighted the brazenne...

In the context of a public outcry over massive mining scandals in various parts of the country, the Government of India had set up the Justice M. B. Shah Commission of Inquiry for Illegal Mining of Iron Ore and Manganese in November 2010. The Commission was asked to inquire into the illegal mining, trade and transportation of iron ore and manganese ore, identify the deficiencies in the systems of management and regulation, and assess their overall impact in terms of environmental damage, prejudi...

Readers will recall that Common Cause had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court in 1995 to demand the establishment of an effective framework for combating corruption by creating the institutions of Lokpal at the central level and Lokayukta at the state level. The essential features of a law for establishing an independent and empowered Lokpal were first outlined in an affidavit filed by Common Cause in August 2008. Our PIL is now at the final stage of hearing. Over the last fifteen years, gover...

The outcome of the 16th Lok Sabha elections surprised the lay voter and seasoned psephologists alike. The margin of the BJP victory bettered the most optimistic projections of even diehard Modi supporters. It would be churlish to attribute this result to the quirks of the First Past the Post system, or the lavish and superbly executed `no-holds-barred' electoral campaign capitalising on the persona of the Party's Prime Ministerial candidate. The Modi government was elected on a carefu...

The outcome of the 16th Lok Sabha elections surprised the lay voter and seasoned psephologists alike. The margin of the BJP victory bettered the most optimistic projections of even diehard Modi supporters. It would be churlish to attribute this result to the quirks of the First Past the Post system, or the lavish and superbly executed `no-holds-barred' electoral campaign capitalising on the persona of the Party's Prime Ministerial candidate. The Modi government was elected on a carefu...

In a few weeks from now, the nation will go to the polls to elect the 16th Lok Sabha. Elections to the legislative assemblies of Sikkim, Odisha and the soon-to- be-bifurcated state of Andhra Pradesh will also be held simultaneously. There is little doubt that the 2014 elections will qualitatively be different from the preceding elections. The electoral landscape has undergone far-reaching changes over the last few years, and the pace of change appears to be accelerating. In the first pla...