How independent is India’s Supreme Court?
Despite its enormous powers, it rarely challenges the government
India’s Supreme Court has been making waves. On February 21st it overturned the result of a mayoral election in Chandigarh, capital of the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, and chided an official loyal to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for having rigged the poll. Two days earlier it ordered the government of Narendra Modi to reverse a dilution in the rules protecting forestland. Last week it struck down electoral bonds, an opaque campaign-finance instrument that had mainly benefited the bjp.
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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Courting politics”
From the February 24th 2024 edition
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