Politics

“Inside the SIR”: Booklet flags ‘mechanical disenfranchisement’ in electoral roll revision

CJP–VFD publication combines training manual and ground documentation to question ongoing voter verification exercise

West Bengal: SIR unravelled

Multiple reports of serious anomalies in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process being unilaterally conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in West Bengal have come to light; exclusion of Matuas, immigrants from erstwhile east Bengal, is only one of them

Light a lamp of hope in 2026

We must begin a new year on a note...

Girija Gupte, trade unionist passes away

Girija Gupte, an activist widely recognised for her sustained...

Searchlight on 2025: The polished window and the dry rot

The author, in his inimitable style writes of the abyss of disintegration that 2026 is likely to harbour in

Beyond Victory and Defeat: Why the ‘Does God Exist’ Debate Was Not a Win for Religion

Until religion can solve the problem of evil without resorting to circular belief, it cannot claim victory over reason

SIR: Over 3.5 Crore electors flagged for removal across 12 states in SIR, Uttar Pradesh will publish its draft rolls on December 31

More than 3.5 crore electors have been provisionally deleted from electoral rolls across 12 states and UTs following the publication of draft rolls under the SIR, Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest electorate in the country, is scheduled to publish its draft electoral rolls on December 31, 2025, marking the next major phase of the ongoing controversial revision exercise

Kishore Theckedath: an exceptional Marxist intellectual and mass organiser

Kishore Thekedath who passed away at 89 in Mumbai hailed from Kerala and was among the founder members of the Bombay University and College Teachers Union (BUCTU) in 1966, remaining on the Executive Committee of the body for fifty years until 2016; he was also the Vice President of the Kerala People's Education Society (KPES), which has been running the large Adarsh Vidyalaya in Mumbai very well for several decades. This tribute, by Ashok Dhawale, senior CPI-M leader brings alive Thekedath’s contribution to the collective struggles of teachers and students

Bangladesh: Assault and mob attack on journalists condemned by EGI

The Editors Guild of India has unequivocally condemned the physical assaults and incidents of mob attacks, vandalism and arson against prominent media persons and media establishments in Bangladesh.

Kerala Lynching: Migrant worker lynched in Palakkad a ‘victim of Sangh Parivar’s hate politics’ says state government

Media reports state that the state Local Self Government Minister MB Rajesh alleged that the man from Chhattisgarh had been ‘attacked after being stigmatised as Bangladeshi’

“They Changed the Law, Aggravating Our Misery and Hunger”

Along with is a compilation of voices from the...

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When History substitutes Governance: Hindutva’s Politics of Manufacturing Pasts

Inventing kings, rebranding dynasties, and fabricating history to mask policy failure and engineer caste-communal politics

Fractured Fault lines: Violence, governance gaps, and rising tensions across Odisha

From church vandalism and communal flashpoints to tribal resistance, welfare exclusions, and political impunity—recent developments point to deepening fault lines in Odisha’s social and administrative landscape

“Inside the SIR”: Booklet flags ‘mechanical disenfranchisement’ in electoral roll revision

CJP–VFD publication combines training manual and ground documentation to question ongoing voter verification exercise

Censorship and the Drumbeats of Hate: Mapping the state of free speech ahead of the 2026 polls

A new report by Free Speech Collective traces five years of censorship, criminalisation of dissent, and the rise of hate-driven political discourse across Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry—raising urgent questions about the conditions for free and fair elections

AERO dies by suicide in Kolkata, family alleges extreme election duty pressure and humiliation

A 48-year-old Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) died by suicide in South Kolkata’s Bansdroni area after consuming pesticide, the tragic death of Malabika Roy Bhattacharyya has sparked serious concerns regarding the immense pressure placed on government officials tasked with SIR/Election duties, with her family explicitly blaming the ECI for the extreme workload

UP’s syncretic warrior cults facing Hindutva challenge

Be it the attack on the Gogamedi shrine in the Hanumangarh district of northern Rajasthan or the Neja Mela in the Sambhal district of western Uttar Pradesh, Hindutva’s systemic attack on India’s syncretic traditions, past and present, reveals its rigid and Brahmanical ideological orientation: imposition of a strictly hierarchical, exclusionary and structured notion of faith and practice

No Hearing, No Notice, Just Deletion: How Bengal’s SIR Erased a Decorated IAF Officer

The removal of Wing Commander Md Shamim Akhtar, who served the nation for 17 years, during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) highlights a systemic lack of due process that threatens the voting rights of even the most distinguished citizens

An Adivasi woman once in bonded labour now serves her village as a Sarpanch

As India marks 50 years of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, cases of bonded labour still surface in states like Telangana where many workers in sectors such as agriculture, brick kilns, fishing and construction remain trapped in debt and coercion; here the author reflects on a transformative journey of an Adivasi woman who serves as a Sarpanch.