Charkha, Vidhi’s research centre dedicated to constitutional law, in collaboration with the India International Centre, is launching a year-long series of nuanced digital conversations on the Constitution of India titled “Of Bridges and Breaks: The Constitution at a Crossroads”.

Recent developments in India indicate it is of utmost importance that we pay attention to the acceleration of constitutional change, as well as the widespread reliance on the document’s language and ethos. As part of this series, we will facilitate conversations between academicians, legal practitioners, and social workers, to underscore how different constitutional structures play out in practice.

This conversation focuses on ‘Electoral Democracy in India: From Spectacle to Substance’. It navigates compelling issues such as electoral financing, criminalisation of electoral politics, and the challenges in ensuring free and fair elections.

The panel consists of Mr. R. Venkataramani, Senior Advocate Supreme Court of India and former Member, Law Commission of India, and Dr. Neelanjan Sircar, Assistant Professor, Ashoka University and Senior Visiting Fellow, Centre for Policy Research. It is moderated by Ritwika Sharma, Lead, Charkha and Senior Resident Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.