Indian Polity & Governance

With just one day left for the voter list to be finalised for the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections (scheduled for April 23, 2026), the appellate tribunals set up to hear appeals of “deleted” voters held their first and only hearing so far. Following a Supreme Court order, the tribunal quickly restored the name of Motab Shaikh, the Congress candidate from Farakka in Murshidabad district, who had been removed from the voter list during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. Most other tribunals are yet to start functioning fully, raising concerns about lakhs of voters still waiting for a final decision before the nomination deadline ends on April 6.

On March 28, 2026, the Rajasthan High Court issued an important order banning night safaris and the use of drones, spotlights, torch lights and similar devices in the Jawai Leopard Reserve in Pali district. The court acted on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by local resident Apoorva Agrawat. It directed the state government to ensure no wildlife spotting activities take place after 7 pm or before 6 am. The bench noted that unregulated tourism, especially at night, was causing serious disturbance and stress to leopards and other animals. This order aligns with similar restrictions already followed in places like Ranthambore National Park.

On March 27, 2026, the government introduced the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha. The bill seeks to amend 79 central acts administered by 23 ministries and proposes to decriminalise 717 minor procedural offences while removing or changing 67 more provisions. This is the second edition of the Jan Vishwas initiative after the 2023 Act. Congress members raised strong objections during introduction, but the government rejected them, saying there is no precedent for sending such bills to a parliamentary committee at this stage.

The Supreme Court on March 11, 2026, dismissed the Centre's appeals against judgments from three High Courts—Delhi, Madras, and Kerala—ruling that creamy layer status for Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservations cannot be based only on parental income. This decision came in cases involving UPSC civil services candidates whose parents work in public sector undertakings (PSUs) or private firms, emphasizing that social status and job equivalence must also be considered to avoid unfair treatment among similar OBC groups.

The Supreme Court, on March 11, 2026, approved the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment for 32-year-old Harish Rana, who has remained in a persistent vegetative state for over 13 years following a severe head injury. This decision represents the first real-world use of India's passive euthanasia guidelines, highlighting the need for clear rules on end-of-life care to allow individuals to pass away naturally when medical treatment offers no hope of recovery.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has announced that starting next year, all proceedings in both Houses of Parliament, along with related official paperwork, will be translated into India's 22 scheduled languages using Artificial Intelligence. This step aims to make parliamentary work more accessible to people across the country, marking the first time such full translations will be available to the public. The announcement was made during a press conference ahead of a major international speakers' meeting, highlighting efforts to use technology for better democracy.

The Supreme Court of India has issued a notice to the Central government and the Election Commission on a public interest litigation challenging a key provision in the 2023 law that grants lifelong immunity to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) from civil or criminal proceedings for actions taken during their official duties. This move comes amid growing concerns about the potential for unchecked power in the electoral body, especially as it could affect the fairness of elections, and the court has agreed to examine the law's validity without staying its operation for now.

The Assam government has recommended granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to six communities through a new three-tier framework, aiming to include them without diluting existing ST rights. However, this proposal has been rejected by a representative group of existing ST communities, who call it unconstitutional and a threat to their political representation. This comes amid heated discussions as Assam prepares for elections, highlighting tensions between inclusion demands and protection of tribal interests.

The article discusses a recent 10-hour parliamentary debate initiated by the central government on Vande Mataram, the national song of India. Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi delivered a speech revisiting the decision by India's first Prime Minister (PM) Jawaharlal Nehru to adopt only the first two stanzas of the original composition, framing it as an act of appeasement toward Muslim leaders. This has sparked discussions on including the dropped stanzas, granting equal legal status to Vande Mataram alongside the national anthem Jana Gana Mana, and exploring the musical reasons behind Nehru's choice, beyond political narratives.

Delhi's air quality plunged to a 'very poor' level with an AQI of 301 on October 27, 2025, prompting the government to prepare for a cloud seeding operation on October 28 if weather permits, aiming to trigger artificial rain and flush out pollutants. In parallel, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) enforced a ban on non-BS-VI commercial goods vehicles entering the city from November 1, under GRAP Stage II, to curb rising vehicular emissions as stubble burning and post-Diwali haze intensify the annual winter pollution spike, affecting millions in the national capital.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on October 27, 2025, kicked off the second phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 12 states and six Union Territories, impacting 51 crore voters. This nationwide drive, starting with training from October 28 and house-to-house checks from November 4, aims to clean up voter lists by removing duplicates, deceased entries, and migrants while adding new eligible voters. Drawing lessons from Bihar's first phase—where over 68 lakh names were deleted—the process has been simplified to avoid overburdening citizens, especially with assembly elections looming in four states next year. Assam is notably excluded for now due to ongoing citizenship verification under the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued a detailed advisory on October 25, 2025, directing all political parties to prominently label videos, images, and audio clips that are created or altered using artificial intelligence (AI). This move addresses the rising threat of deepfakes, which the ECI says are "contaminating the level-playing field" in elections by spreading misleading information that looks real. The advisory builds on earlier warnings and aligns closely with recent draft amendments to the Information Technology Rules, 2021, proposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It comes amid growing concerns over AI's role in shaping public opinion during campaigns, as seen in past elections where synthetic content disrupted voter trust.