Shani is a senior lecturer at the Department of Asian Studies, University of Haifa. She is the author of ‘How India Became Democratic: Citizenship and the Making of the Universal Franchise’.
As the tricolour was hoisted on August 15, 1947, Indians collectively owned the Constitution-in-the-making, reimagining freedom as a transformation of their lives and rights
The country’s first election was an ingeniously indigenous an inventive exercise, with unique challenges. The way bureaucracy rose to the task holds lessons for today.
