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The recent election in Bhutan has shown democracy taking firm roots and the experiment of constitutional monarchy in the country has been a success. This was the second poll in the country. The people voted for an alternate choice and brought the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to power, which bagged 32 seats in the National Assembly. The ruling Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) has been reduced to a minority with 15 seats.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a chargesheet after investigating the 2004 “encounter” killing of teenager-student Ishrat Jahan and three others, who were falsely accused of plotting to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. It has charged eight policemen, including senior Indian Police Service officers DG Vanzara and PP Pandey, with cold-blooded, premeditated murder.

Considering that there are people in the BJP – LK Advani is among them – who do not belong to the Narendra Modi fan club, the Gujarat strongman’s propensity for indiscreet comments will be as much a matter of satisfaction for them as for his opponents outside the party.

Situations never remain static. In the case of Punjab, the two latest developments also indicate this. The first is reflected in the signs of the state’s changing political scenario. The second is the possible implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling about the right of convicted or jailed MPs and MLAs continuance as members of legislatures and contest elections.

The high—level Indo-US economic talks in Washington, where two senior Ministers of Government of India, Finance Minister Mr P Chidambaram and Commerce and Industry Minister Mr Anand Sharma engaged US Congressmen, policy-makers and business leaders (July 10-12), may not have been altogether an exercise in futility.

The Chidambaram magic is no longer working. When P Chidambaram took over as the finance minister last year, with Pranab Mukherjee heading for Rashtrapati Bhavan, it was thought his replacement would work wonders. He withdrew the controversial tax measures like retrospective taxation of corporate income and the general rules for tax avoidance by multinational corporations operating in India. It has given some temporary boost to the markets. But then nemesis appears to have taken over.

It seems Congress thrives on controversies while it makes its opposition succumb to those surrounding them. Having mastered the art of weathering scams - one after another in the last four years and seemed potentially devastating when they first unfolded - the poll-bound party seems to be hell bent to court another round of political slugfest by dishing out permits, licences, subsidies and approvals worth almost Rs. 30 lakh crore ($ 500 billion) in their total business impact.

The Supreme Court’s order stipulating that MPs and MLAs will be disqualified the moment they are convicted in a criminal case has been wholeheartedly welcomed by those who want to clean up the polity of criminal elements. The apex court’s verdict that there is no reason why elected representatives should be protected from disqualification pending appeal is a landmark ruling that could, in future, cleanse India’s politics of legislators with criminal record. The offences for which a legislator can be convicted are specified in the Representative of the People Act.

BHOPAL: The defection of the senior Congress legislator Rakesh Singh Chaudhury from the Party on the day the no-confidence motion against the BJP led Madhya Pradesh Government was scheduled for discussion, has given a big jolt to the Congress party in the election year. The Party was unprepared for such a damaging development and the BJP took full advantage of the opposition embarrassment.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee desperately wants the central government to dismiss her Trinamool Congress (TMC) Ministry. On June 5, she took a provocative step in this direction by ordering a TMC boycott of an all party meeting convened by the State Election Commission (SEC) to discuss the coming panchayat election.