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. Given how much money is at stake, and how much some people stand to get richer just by winning, I suppose it makes sense for something so serious to start resembling a reality TV show. The lines between politics and entertainment have been blurring for years, thanks to the all-pervasive influence of that other big democracy, the United States. It’s why we have begun to adopt so much of what they do, from the raucous televised debates to the mudslinging that masquerades as rallying.