Safeguarding India’s Electoral Democracy

26th-30th March 2026

Background

India’s electoral democracy is undergoing a fundamental transformation—even as we witness greater participation in elections, there are serious concerns about institutional integrity and accountability. 

How free and fair are the elections in our country? Is the Election Commission conducting itself as a neutral umpire? What is the impact of money and power on elections? Is the system of voting via EVM robust and reliable?  What will be the impact of SIR on future elections? Will delimitation establish the dominance of North Indian states over elections? What are the ramifications of the proposal to hold simultaneous polls- ‘One Nation, One Election’? How significant are the allegations of voter fraud and what has been the ECI’s response? 

To deepen our understanding of electoral democracy in India and discuss ways to protect and strengthen it, a 5-day workshop is being organized at Sambhaavnaa Institution from March 26 to March 30, 2026.

About the workshop

Over the past few decades, India’s electoral democracy has witnessed a profound shift—from a phase marked by systemic reforms aimed at deepening democratic participation to the present ,where the struggle is increasingly about defending the bare minimum of electoral integrity. This workshop seeks to locate this shift in a historical perspective and critically examine the contemporary challenges confronting India’s electoral processes.

Through a combination of lectures, hands-on exercises, audio-visual material, and guided readings, the workshop will provide participants with an opportunity to engage deeply with key debates around electoral democracy. It will also create space for collective reflection on how citizens, activists, lawyers, researchers, and civil society actors can meaningfully intervene in these debates.

Key themes and issues that will be explored include:

• Impact of Money Power on Elections: Electoral bonds, unlimited spending by political parties, lack of transparency, uneven playing field, allegations of quid pro quo, and key reforms needed.
• Independence and credibility of the Election Commission: Concerns over the appointment process, transparency in the conduct of elections, and allegations of selective action against the opposition.
• Distorting the electoral playing field in practice across different stages of the electoral process—pre-election conditions, nominations, campaigning, polling, counting, and post-election challenges.
• Access to election-related records: questions over voter turnout, access to CCTV footage, election-related records, amendments made to the Conduct of Election Rules, and how to access information using the RTI Act.
• Questions over EVM: The use of EVMs in other jurisdictions, their compliance with democracy principles, and key reforms proposed.
• Narrative-setting and the role of media
• Electoral reforms in historical perspective, tracing how concerns have moved from strengthening institutions to safeguarding their basic credibility.
• Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls: concerns of voter exclusion, disproportionate impact on marginalized groups and communities, and its impact on electoral outcomes. 
• Delimitation: The postponement of the census till 2026 is widely believed to be linked to plans for carrying out a fresh delimitation exercise. We will discuss what a delimitation is, who carries out the delimitation, why it is needed, and what the chief concerns are, especially on whether the redrawing of constituency boundaries can reshape electoral outcomes and party fortunes.
• Simultaneous elections (One Nation, One Election) and their impact on democratic accountability, federalism, and voter choice.
• Other key issues include misuse of state machinery and investigative agencies and significant recent court cases related to elections.

The workshop will conclude by identifying spaces and strategies for contestation and collectively developing an agenda for action—exploring how democratic accountability can be reclaimed and strengthened in the current political context.

Resource persons include:

• Mr. Yogendra Yadav, political activist and writer.
• Ms. Anjali Bhardwaj, transparency and accountability activist.
• Mr. Prashant Bhushan, public interest advocate, Supreme Court.
• Ms. Amrita Johri, transparency and accountability activist.
• Other resource persons will also join.

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is for people who have already been involved in political and social activism for at least 5 years and are committed to spending their time and energy on building campaigns and networks to protect and strengthen India’s electoral democracy, including activists, lawyers, journalists, researchers, etc. 

Participant Contribution

We hope that participants will contribute an amount of Rs. 5,000/- towards workshop expenses, inclusive of all on-site workshop costs: boarding, lodging, and all the materials used in the workshop. Travel of participants will have to be borne by the participants themselves.

Date & Venue: 26th-30th March 2026, Sambhavna Institute, VPO – Kandbari, Tehsil – Palampur, District – Kangra, Pin 176061, Himachal Pradesh.

How to reach: Please visit: https://sambhaavnaa.org/contact/how-to-reach-us/

For any further information: WhatsApp or call 889 422 7954 (between 10 am and 5 pm), and e-mail [email protected].

If necessary, a letter of participation can be provided. Please ask after the workshop.

To register for the workshop, please fill out this form.