COVER STORY
Who is winning the battle of perceptions matters the most: at least until it is known who has won the election.
Outlook Magazine - Election Omission - 11 September 2025 Issue
It is difficult to recall politicians from other states campaigning in Bihar. The participation of M K Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and that of CPI(ML)’s Dipankar Bhattacharya in a road show in Bihar tells the importance of the upcoming Bihar elections—both for the Opposition India Bloc, and the ruling Nitish Kumar-BJP combine. Rahul Gandhi’s Vote Adhikar Yatra in Bihar is gathering enough crowds. Can Rahul Gandhi and Tejaswi Yadav pull it off? The columns and a ground report from Bihar offer some answers, in this issue of Outlook. In Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura, where voter rolls have swelled and warped, N K Bhoopesh unravels a decades-long saga of duplicate names, bogus entries and unexplained surges in voters. Rajya Sabha MP and fiery voice of the Opposition, Manoj Kumar Jha, warns in 'How Free and Fair?' that without moral courage, democracy will fade. Aditya Sondhi, a seasoned advocate, reads the fine print of the Election Commission’s actions and silences in 'A Chink in the Edifice'. Nalini Singh, the veteran journalist who exposed booth capturing during elections in the 1980s and '90s, recalls the lessons from that pursuit. Avantika Mehta tracks the ideological spin being given to NCERT textbooks, speaking to historians and teachers, and educationists, who highlight the dangers of history being used as propaganda. Ishfaq Naseem visits experts and teachers, uncovering how they feel about the past being rewritten through textbooks. Read this and more in the latest issue of Outlook.
Democracy itself is allowed to rest in the hands of the Election Commission.
Is the 'vote chori' allegation of the Opposition kindling voter memories of past anti-corruption campaigns?
By presiding over processes that narrow democratic participation, the Election Commission of India betrays the very idea of universal adult suffrage
From Jawaharlal Nehru to TN Seshan, India’s democratic health always hinged on institutional autonomy. Today, that legacy stands endangered.
At ground zero of Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against ‘vote theft’, electoral rolls have long been an arena of political contest and controversy
Letters to the Election Commission of India, election petitions in court and Right to Information queries—the opposition bloc has done it all since the Maharashtra Assembly polls last year
In the 1980s and 90s, booth capturing in Bihar was a threat to democratic functioning. Men with their faces covered and holding guns told people their votes had been cast.
The NCERT has released new modules titled ‘Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’ for Classes VI to XII, stirring debate.
New school textbooks in India have turned into walls that stand between students and the world of reality and truth
Democracy itself is allowed to rest in the hands of the Election Commission.
Is the 'vote chori' allegation of the Opposition kindling voter memories of past anti-corruption campaigns?
By presiding over processes that narrow democratic participation, the Election Commission of India betrays the very idea of universal adult suffrage
From Jawaharlal Nehru to TN Seshan, India’s democratic health always hinged on institutional autonomy. Today, that legacy stands endangered.
At ground zero of Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against ‘vote theft’, electoral rolls have long been an arena of political contest and controversy
Letters to the Election Commission of India, election petitions in court and Right to Information queries—the opposition bloc has done it all since the Maharashtra Assembly polls last year
In the 1980s and 90s, booth capturing in Bihar was a threat to democratic functioning. Men with their faces covered and holding guns told people their votes had been cast.
The NCERT has released new modules titled ‘Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’ for Classes VI to XII, stirring debate.
New school textbooks in India have turned into walls that stand between students and the world of reality and truth
OTHER STORIES
What is the impact of distortions in historical textbooks on institutions?
School textbooks present a version of history at odds with Kashmiri recollections
Books live beyond bans. In the digital age, it reveals a State that fears ideas.
A remarkable travelogue across Indian cities through the years.
Religion and mental health need not be adversaries. One speaks the language of spirit, the other of science. But both seek the same thing: healing.
The translation of Kannada writer-activist-lawyer Banu Mushtaq’s work is not just an aesthetic act, but a public intervention.
The growing silence between father and son becomes a theme in Jey Sushil’s work.
When Baba was in Class 3, he had to leave school so he could work in the fields. But I'm different, for I go to an 'international' school...
