In the last Lok Sabha elections, when campaigning was over for the last phase, citizens heaved a sigh of relief. The EC clamped a ban of 48 to 72 hours on Yogi Adityanath, Mayawati, Maneka Gandhi and Azam Khan from campaigning. Her statement along with the decisions of the EC kept spreading. It is not surprising then that one of the most reputed magazines of the world,The Economist had kept India in the category of Flawed Democracy in the Democracy Index 2018, published last year. This report revealed that the world’s largest democracy fared badly on the parameters of electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.

Source: Hindustan Times April 22, 2019 01:41 UTC