We asked you to tell us your reason for choosing not to vote. This is what our readers shared.
Women are great team players and collaborators, 'but they don't put themselves forward,' Dr Gagandeep Kang, the first Indian woman scientist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, tells Veenu Sandhu.
The Congress's new treasurer Ahmed Patel has been meeting industrialists and businessmen. He met one of the biggest industrialists of the country last week, but the assurance of any significant donation was half-hearted from the other end. Business houses aren't exactly queuing up to offer donations, reports Archis Mohan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lashed out at previous governments, saying they seemed to hate development and "looted" public money to win elections.
'New Delhi showed itself willing -- at least for a period -- to tolerate the risk of conflict and to withstand Beijing's implicit and explicit threats.' 'But it also continued to try to cut some kind of deal with China to reduce tensions.'
'Whether the people will benefit or not depends on what the central government does in Kashmir successfully.'
'The Modi Model we see now is still the old Gujarat Model.' 'But with an acknowledgement that governing India is more challenging than governing Gujarat,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
'She's not going to keel over.' 'This is the kind of difficult situation that she thrives in.'
'If you don't have a strong political leadership, however much expertise a country may have, in pandemic preparedness or infectious disease, will not matter.' 'It's really about having strong political leadership, that is proactive, that prioritises taking the right action.' 'And if you don't have that, then you will have a much worse pandemic experience.'
This theory of 'Hindus vs the rest' sees the two communities as two separate blocs. Isn't that the two-nation theory? What of the deep bonds that the communities have on the ground? asks Jyoti Punwani.
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's customary address to the joining sitting of Parliament on the first day of the budget session.
'Since the rise of the Modi-Shah paradigm, the BJP has followed a simple formula.' 'Sweep the Hindi heartland and the two big Western states, and you can rule India with a majority by just adding some little bits on the platter from here and there,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
If I were the BJP, I would not be celebrating quite so quickly. It can sweep its heartland in 2014, as it has shown it can do, but that heartland isn't quite big enough. And it can put up a good fight in towns and cities, too - but unless it neutralises AAP or similar political entrepreneurs, it may find itself tantalisingly short, just as has happened to it in Delhi, says Mihir Sharma.
Travelling across tribal Dahod to an about-to-be-born township near Ahmedabad, Sheela Bhatt examines the 'Modi effect' and how it will play out in the polls in the prime ministerial candidate's home state.Travelling across tribal Dahod to an about-to-be-born-township near Ahmedabad, Sheela Bhatt examines the 'Modi effect' and how it will play out at the polls on the prime ministerial candidate's home state.
Ahead of VK Sasikala's return to Tamil Nadu on February 8, there are some important questions facing her. One, does she carry electoral weight more now than her brainchild AMMK had in the 2019 LS polls? Two, can she retain or build upon the five per cent vote-share from that time? And finally, is there space for Sasikala to retrieve, first within the AIADMK and then across the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Kejriwal, on a four-day visit to Gujarat, is widely seen to be in the poll-bound state to woo the numerously strong Patel community to gain foothold in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home turf.
'Prevention plus vaccination is what is going to take us into better territory by September or October.'
The answer has two components: as a leader with a vision who can carry the masses and his ability to realise his vision through his decision-making and executive skills, says Col R Hariharan.
Official celebrations in most states were restricted to unfurling of the national flag and chief ministers and governors addressing the people, with fewer guests in attendance.
Between meeting party volunteers and clicking pictures with them, an upbeat AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said he was confident of his party winning absolute majority in the Delhi Assembly elections.
The opposition has attacked the Modi government over the National Democratic Alliance's last full-fledged budget before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In a multi-pronged attack on the government, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Surjewala alleged that it was managing headlines to deflect attention from issues such as the death of 39 Indians in captivity in Iraq.
The idea is to make unexceptionable broad promises so as to have the maximum freedom to devise policies if and when the opportunity arises, says Subir Roy.
Stone-pelting youth were not giving up their lives for tourism but for resolution of the Kashmir issue as per the wishes of its people, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said.
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Monday said it was in "our best interest" to heed the advice of the Constitution as not doing so would result in a "sharp descent into chaos".
'In this election -- her first major one since wresting power from the Left -- Mamata has proved that she has simply maintained the Left's systemic status quo by ensuring that she implements the CPI-M method of election and result 'management', says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
From corruption to communalism, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Rs 70 lakh Hublot watch to United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, the electoral potboiler had it all.
'George was a politician with a difference. He had the ability to stand alone, take a position, however extreme, and sustain that position,' remembers Arun Jaitley.
As Bihar decides its fate on Sunday, political leaders from across the spectrum weighed in.
'A hundred days later, it is a moot point whether the lockdown has been partially or totally effective, or, as sceptics indicate, plain ineffective.' 'Did it actually deflect infections and the loss of lives, or was it merely a hasty decision rammed down the populace's throats that choked the economy and caused the searing tragedy of dispossessed migrant workers?' ask Radha Roy Biswas and Manoj Mohanka.
Over 20 political parties, except the Biju Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front, took part in the massive rally.
'The Opposition parties should seriously give thought to endorsing Kovind's candidacy and close this chapter of divisive politics,' advises M K Bhadrakumar.
What the AAP becomes eventually in New Delhi will impact whether citizens would want such a model replicated in Mumbai or opt for one from the existing system, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
The Paytm employee, who tested positive for the contagious disease with flu like symptoms on Wednesday, came in touch with 91 people in Gurgaon, an official said, citing his counterpart in the suburban town.
I do not understand Narendra Modi's mantra of 'development'. Specifically, I do not see many of his models as indicators of development that are relevant to me, says Gautam Rakshit.
The seventh Tibet Work Forum was held in Beijing on August 28 and 29. Delhi should be deeply concerned, at a time India faces a precarious situation in Ladakh, because the TWF also defines China's western border policies, observes Claude Arpi.
The two parties, however, are in a neck-and-neck race in Manipur and Goa.
'Charging that some main political parties are trying to "dangerously" disturb the communal harmony in Uttar Pradesh ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday warned such forces of stringent action.
'The so-called old guard is uneasy and resentful. These are the makings of a new Congress where there will be little or no role for them. And in their opinion, it is not a Congress that will win elections,' says Aditi Phadnis.
Dealing with the Sirisena government in Sri Lanka, says G Ganapathy Subramaniam, is a lot easier for India than engaging with the Rajapaksa regime.