ABC of Voting is a no-frills publication that demystifies the voter enrollment and elections process in India.

In the run-up to the Rajasthan state elections, public audits of electoral rolls are beginning to payoff remarkably, says Nikhil Dey.

Two sections for voters all over the country and one section for Karnataka voters, prepared by the Karnataka Election Watch Committee.

Jayaprakash Narayan on the famous verdict of May 2004 that saw the BJP-led NDA evicted from power. This feature includes a brief interview.

He designed the general elections, India’s greatest gift to itself. It is time the Bengali mathematician-turned-civil servant got his due, writes Ramachandra Guha.

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court has referred the question of whether voters should have the option to declare their lack of confidence in all the candidates on a ballot to a Constitution bench. Kannan Kasturi reports.

The aggressive stance of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in exiting the NDA is not really a big surprise, but whether that can lead to the formation of a viable government by an United Third Front at the Centre leaves room for scepticism, says B.S. Nagaraj.

Mainstream media may play up the parliamentary contest as a battle of Goliaths, but statistical analysis reveals the true diversity in the Indian party system and the inevitability of coalitions. Srinivasan Ramani brings us the real picture.

They make an appearance before every election with a basket of promises and some patchwork to impress the electorate, only to disappear later. Chennai residents tell Lavanya Donthamshetty how tired they are of such politicians, wishing for a leader with vision and the commitment to turn it into reality.

Gujarat bucks the urban trend when it comes to identity voting, while cities in the prosperous northern states place high emphasis on choice of MP candidates. Srinivasan Ramani discovers several interesting facts on urban choice, through GIS mapping of data obtained from a voter perception survey.

Any election campaign and process needs money, and as long as the exercise of money power is well-regulated, it can never thwart the power of the people, feels P V Rajeev.

Combining provisional voter turnout data and the perceptions of MP performance based on the Daksh-ADR survey, Srinivasan Ramani attempts to make reasonable assessments about what could be behind the high turnouts in this Lok Sabha elections.

In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 66 out of 131 seats reserved for SC/ST candidates, which is the highest for any single party since 1991. Prabhu Mallikarjunan looks at the statistics and tries to decipher what this says for voting behaviour in these constituencies.

The Election Commission of India is introducing The National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPA) with a view to eliminating duplication and erroneous deletions in electoral rolls across the country. Chinmayi Shalya reports.

The 2009 election will mark the rapid decline of India.

Not conducive for independents at all. It is unfortunately so because the political system frowns on these people because they would not fit in into it and if they were allowed in, it would cause huge embarrassment. They are outsiders and would be kept out while a even a rebel can return home and be embraced for he is one of 'them'.

M Karunanidhi, who is keen on ensuring that all his children are well settled before he passes into the ages, needs to learn from President Kalam's example.

'If a scheme like the NREGA can yield such handsome dividends, imagine the likely impact of an initiative to provide universal healthcare, free primary education, safe drinking water, affordable housing and social security.'

How Delhi voted in 2004

Invincible as he appears in his western stronghold, can Narendra Modi sweep forth from it and take New Delhi for an insurgent BJP? The good news for Modi's rivals in his party is that these results don't even begin to suggest he can.

Instead of a steamrolling 150 seats tally, terrifying the Bharatiya Janata Party high command into an abject surrender and hailing him as a prime minister-in-waiting, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra got 115 seats, 2 short of his 2007 score(117), enabling his party rivals to deny him what he covets the most, says Arvind J Bosmia

More people are using telepresence robots that allow humans to be right there -- even when they're far away. WSJ's Andy Jordan checks out one San Francisco space with a regular office mate in Brussels.

For those without a ticket at the London games, there's another option. A game design group, Hide&Seek, has placed 99 "Tiny Games" in each of London's 33 boroughs. They're meant to be happened upon, and as WSJ's Andy Jordan finds out, they can lead to some random and funny situations.

"The Bay Lights" light installation, inspired by the 75th anniversary of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, is officially unveiled March 5. Here's a preview of what it will look like, and a conversation the artist, Leo Villareal.

If you’ve read a book in a car, you probably know what motion sickness feels like. WSJ’s Tim Higgins visits Massachusetts-based ClearMotion, which is betting its suspension technology could provide a solution as we move closer towards a future with driverless cars. Photo: Max Esposito/WSJ

The Electricity Act, 2003 requires each hydel project to be considered in light of other projects in the same river basin, but investigation of one project shows that this is not really enforced, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

India's energy set-up requires a major overhaul in order to keep up with the growth imperative, but there may be no quick-fix solutions. Ashok Sreenivas and Sreekumar N outline the critical areas of concern that call for focused solutions beyond the ambit of private investment.

Has the CAG overstepped its mandate by auditing the capital’s three power distributors at the behest of the ruling Delhi government? While the recent High Court ruling seems to indicate that, Himanshu Upadhyaya argues why the draft audit report must not be rejected.

The idea of women as autonomous and equal citizens is sanctioned in our public sphere through the media, even as the media also endorses the idea that women are around to be gazed at through advertisements, films, contests, and the like. Shoma Chatterjee says that our women are paying a price for this contradiction.

Public attention must focus on what Pakistan's options are, both in battlefield tactical terms, and in the face of India's military resurgence, says Firdaus Ahmed.

If Lt. Col. Purohit's activities are only one instance of something wider, then the Army has a real problem - namely, the penetration of majoritarian religious ideology into the historically secular defence forces, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

Illegal dumping of industrial waste around Raigarh takes the life of 7-year-old Twinkle Thakur, raising familiar troubling questions about the trajectory of 'development' in India. Kanchi Kohli reports.

How can forests be protected and sustained during these times of changing climates and the related uncertainties? This question was explored at a recent conference. Darryl D'Monte reports.

The challenge before the media is to move beyond clubbing what happens to women with routine crime briefs, on the one hand, and sensational stories, on the other, to cover "the greatest human rights scandal of our times". Ammu Joseph looks at media coverage of violence against women.

The pressure of ill-informed popular sentiment coupled with a retributive judicial system may lead to an award of capital punishment for rapists, as it has in the Delhi 2012 case, but that does very little to address the much larger problem of VAW in all its dimensions. Ammu Joseph explains.

The pressure of ill-informed popular sentiment coupled with a retributive judicial system may lead to an award of capital punishment for rapists, as it has in the Delhi 2012 case, but that does very little to address the much larger problem of VAW in all its dimensions. Ammu Joseph explains.

On World Radio Day, Ammu Joseph looks at the representation of women in Indian radio and wonders if the medium can play a more significant role in ensuring empowerment and equal participation.

Disaster situations in the recent past have only led to sporadic study and discussions but yielded little by way of lessons for the long term; will the devastating North Indian floods this time change that? Kanchi Kohli ruminates.

Agitators in West Bengal have squarely accused the ration dealers of manipulating the supplies of wheat and rice for the open market by selling them at higher prices. Many of the ration dealers are themselves ruling party functionaries presiding over panchayat bodies. Shoma Chatterji has more.

Why does the government not allocate funds to meet all the rights that are protected under the law? Partly, this is because allocations in the Budget each year are made mechanically, without any thought the need for funds, or the rights that ought to be protected, says Videh Upadhyay.

Inadequate training, shortfall in personnel, weak monitoring systems and unconvincing responses from the government to the CAG.s objections regarding the same reveal the flaws in implementation of the NREGS scheme in Uttar Pradesh. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports.

In Jahangirpur Gram Panchayat of Bihar’s Kishanganj district, Rs 30 lakh meant for pregnant Muslim women had already been misappropriated, when a community-driven project launched by Oxfam decided to tackle the corruption head on. Ajitha Menon reports.

The success of ‘spot fixes’ and other initiatives by independent resident-collectives or organisations in cleaning up urban spaces and dumping spots has been noteworthy, but a long-term plan for solving waste issues in Indian cities needs more. Pooja Ramamurthi explains.

The uneven performance of MGNREGA in the task of rural asset generation requires a careful comparison of the decision making processes involved in those cases where the works undertaken have produced value and where it has failed to, writes Pavan Kulkarni.

In Chhatisgarh's Durg district, there is no shortage of farmers who have taken their lives - the district ranks second in the state on this count. But equally, there is no shortage of those who don't see these suicides. Shubhranshu Choudhary reports.

Farmers' suicides will end only when we are willing to confront the real villain - the misplaced faith in industrial farming, says Devinder Sharma.

Suman Sahai comments on the recently released report of Task Force on Biotechnology policy.

Despite abundant evidence that the PDS has failed to ward off starvation, the Centre proposes a new plan that shows none of the wisdom of this experience. Kanchi Kohli reports on an alternative grounded in local production, storage and distribution, which does a much better job of fighting hunger.

The government's stance towards biotechnology shows such disregard for the public interest that even its own Expert Committee is not privy to the proposed new policy. Suman Sahai protests the reckless endorsement of vested interests while many other stakeholders are kept in the dark.

With a multitude of problems and the diversity of languages, the medium of instruction remains a topic of impassioned debate. Teaching in the mother tongue fuels pride, but English is here to stay. Fostering multilingualism in our schools, however, is far from smooth sailing. Deepa A reports.