Now that some of the dust raised by the Supreme Court judgment on dissolution of Bihar Assembly has settled, the time has come for sober, non-partisan reflection. Clearly, the Court verdict is an indictment of the various institutions whose failure to protect democratic values has been palpable. The Court’s williness to bark and refusal to bite also expose the limitations of judicial review in a rapidly changing situation on matters which are intensely political.

Whenever people in general, and pundits in particular, talk about the state of democracy in our country their discussion is limited to talking about the ills plaguing our system. We all know that flawed electoral rolls, polling irregularities, vote buying, unaccountable use of money in elections, criminalisation of politics and the curse of defections are some of the topics which keep the people engaged. Indeed, these are serious abuses of power. However, instead of simply ranting about them, why not look at the solutions in a holistic way?