Will the upcoming Indian election be free and fair?

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On January 31, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren of the opposition Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, accusing him of laundering money through the purchase of 8.5 acres of land. On March 21, it arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, alleging that his government had accepted payoffs when it launched a new liquor retail policy for the state. A few days earlier, the agency had arrested Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K Kavitha in the same case.

Kejriwal’s arrest came a year after his deputy chief minister, Manish Sisodia, had arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Also behind bars are senior Bengal ministers of the Trinamool Congress such as Partha Chatterjee and Jyoti Priya Mallick.

India’s general elections are less than a month away. It is the world’s largest democratic exercise, where nearly a billion people will vote to elect the lower house of parliament. However, once we...

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