As the world’s largest democracy goes to the polls, this Backgrounder looks at the laws, major players, and issues, including economic reform, caste, and religion, that have shaped India’s politics.

My long-standing friendship with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began when we were both students in Cambridge in the mid-1950s. One personal anecdote in particular underlines dramatically why the Indi…

India is the world’s largest democracy, with possibly the world’s largest number of political parties (six national, twenty-two regional, and 1500+ official unrecognized parties), and what must surel…