One of the nicest things about choosing people to represent us is how we never really know much about the process itself

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in Fort is illuminated in the colours of the Indian flag on August 14, 2024. Pic/Atul Kamble

The World Economic Forum always tends to get a little breathless when it refers to any elections in India. A few years ago, for example, while describing elections to the Lok Sabha in 2019, it called them ‘the biggest exercise in democracy in the world’. The statistics cited were admittedly impressive: there were reportedly 1 million polling stations set up, with 10 million officials brought in to manage things, and more than 100 million first-time voters. It’s a lot to take in, but I have always been surprised by how this massive exercise always appears to operate as if under a fog. I always feel as if the more impressive facts I am presented with, the less I can make sense of what is going on, even at a local level.

Consider the recent Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. I have been a witness to the noise surrounding them for a long time now and have watched as it has grown over the years, much as the city’s budget has.........

© Midday