Elections and their discontents

EC pushes for fiscal responsibility

Election season is in full swing, with the Election Commission (EC) announcing the schedule for the five state Assemblies going to the polls from November 7 through 30. The results are expected on December 3. These states — with a total of 679 Assembly seats but accounting for only 83 Lok Sabha seats — are not the largest in terms of population or number of seats. The timing of these elections, however, has given them the distinction of being the “semi-finals” before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The other significance of these elections is the nature of the campaigning