Like superhero comics and fantasy stories, board games are back in a big way. And as it turns out, Game of Thrones ticks two of those boxes. If you’re looking for something fun to do with friends, without any screens involved, then board games are a great option.

We’re a long way from Scrabble and Ludo now—there’s a whole new range of games that rely on strategy, skill, and some clever scheming. Here, we’ve made a list of seven board games that we really love which you can buy here in India.

Most of the games on this list are also are easy to get into, without a steep learning curve. That makes them good for beginners, so you know what to choose if you’re trying to introduce your friends to board games. Here are our picks:

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1. Gobblet Gobblers

Noughts and Crosses (also known as Tic-Tac-Toe) is one of the best known games in the world, that we’ve all played when bored in school (or during a long meeting). Gobblet Gobblers is a really innovative variant where you have pieces of different sizes that can be used to capture a square that the other player has. The game is simple enough that it can be played by children, but it’s fun no matter what your age is.

The pieces come in two sets of three sizes—small, medium, and large—and you can play them just like you would noughts and crosses. The goal is the same—get three pieces in a row, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, to win—but because you can cover smaller pieces, the tables can turn very quickly on what looked like a sure win.

There’s a lot more thinking that goes into each move, because you aren’t just thinking about your three-in-a-row but also what will happen if your opponent puts a bigger piece on top of yours, and it’ll take a few plays just to wrap your head around the idea. Because the basics are so familiar, though, anyone can pick up the game and just start playing in seconds, and each round is over in minutes so it’s great for pick-up and play sessions.

Buy Gobblet Gobblers on Amazon for Rs 670.

2. Carcassonne

One of the most famous board games out there, Carcassonne is beautiful and relaxing. There’s a strategic, competitive element to the game, but if you just want to play something without having to think too deeply about what you’re doing, this game allows for that as well.

The game is pretty simple—it’s like a jigsaw where you can put together any picture you want. There’s a number of tiles, and tokens called meeples. These tiles have different elements on them, from simple pastures, to churches, roads, and castles. Each player takes turns picking up a tile from the pile, and laying it on the table. The tile needs to touch a piece that’s already on the board, and it must line up visually. That means that if you have a road going vertically in one tile, it can’t just connect to a road running horizontally. Castle walls must line up, and so on. It’s very intuitive and kids can pick up how to play in seconds.

Each player also has a small number of meeples. When you place a tile, you can also place a meeple there — on a road piece, inside a castle, or laying on a pasture. Once you’ve put a meeple on a piece of construction, that belongs to you. When a structure is completed (roads are completed from castle to castle, or to crossroads. Castles are completed when there are no open walls. Churches are complete when all the eight tiles around them have been filled) you take the meeple back, and add the points to your total.

You’ll have to balance quick, small structures (allowing you to use your limited meeples in more buildings) and large towns and roads, which mean big points at the end of the game. Each session should last around 45 minutes to an hour.

Or just sit down with a friend, forget about the points, and make the most beautiful castle you can manage. It’s really up to you. Carcassonne is also available as an app on iOS and MacOS, so you can try it out without spending much money.

Buy Carcassonne on Amazon for Rs 3,499. 

3. One Night Ultimate Werewolf

One Night Ultimate Werewolf is one of the most enjoyable pick-up-and-play experiences we know of, and it’s particularly great if you want to have a board game night with friends.

The rules of the game are simple—you live in a village that has a werewolf problem, and the villagers are going to do something about it. All the action takes place in a single night as various villagers (including the hidden werewolves) wake up and carry out different actions based on their roles, while everyone else keeps their eyes shut. Then it’s the morning, and the villagers need to figure out who the werewolf is, so they can kill them off. The werewolves, of course, spread doubt and confusion during the day phase as they pretend to be innocent villagers themselves.

Complicating matters is the fact that they actually could be innocent villagers—one of the night characters is the troublemaker who randomly switches cards without anyone seeing. This means that you might think you’re a villager and try to hunt down the werewolf, but that could be you.

Once the discussion is over in the daylight phase (players can set the time limit, in our experience three minutes was perfect) everyone points a finger towards their suspect for the werewolf and that player is dead. If a werewolf was really executed, then the villagers win—but if it was a villager who got killed instead, then the werewolves win.

You need a narrator to move the game forward—there’s an excellent phone app you can download to take over that responsibility, but otherwise one of your friends can be the narrator too. There are no strategic moves to make when playing, it’s just bluffing and reasoning your way through, and that means the game is fast and fun.

Buy One Night Ultimate Werewolf on Amazon for Rs 2,254. 

4. Coup

If you loved the idea of One Night Ultimate Werewolf, but thought it sounded a little too random, then you should definitely check out Coup. It’s an amazing card game that is all about deduction, bluffing, and assassination (character and otherwise). Coup is a game about influence, and everyone has a couple of different cards that allow you to raise money, kill off your enemies, or take money from other players.

Once you’ve got enough money, you can carry out an assassination, reducing your opponents’ influence, but some cards like the Contessa can block an assassination attempt. Here’s where it gets complicated though—only each player can see what cards they have. So, let’s say you try and assassinate someone, and they laugh and say they have the Contessa. They don’t actually need to show the card—unless you challenge them. In case of a challenge, if the other player really has the card they claimed, you’re the one who will lose influence, losing one of your cards.

Lose all your cards, and you’re dead. The goal, obviously, is to be the last person left with cards to use.

Unlike Werewolf, with Coup, there’s a clearer strategic component to the game as you count cards, remember who has claimed what roles in the past, and try to figure out just when you’re being bluffed. When there’s a good number of players, you will also find yourself forming alliances and teaming up to cut down other players, which adds another layer of complexity to things. At the same time, each round remains fairly short, around 5-10 minutes at most, and it’s easy enough to pick up after a round of play, making it a great choice for parties.

Buy Coup on Amazon for Rs 1,495. 

5. Ticket To Ride

Possibly the most famous game on this list, Ticket to Ride is fun for kids and adults both, and with its beautiful board and little tokens and pieces, there’s a tactile delight in playing. It’s also a surprisingly competitive game, so it may be avoided if you’re friends with folks who might flip the board if they lose.

The game is really simple—the board has a number of locations on the map (there are a lot of variants, but the simplest one is just called Ticket to Ride, set in the US. There is also Ticket to Ride: Europe, India, Asia, Africa, Germany, and more, which add more complex rules), and differently coloured train tracks that connect different cities. Each player has a set number of train carriages, and you’re collecting tickets in different colours each turn. Once you have enough tickets in the right colours, you can place your carriages on those tracks by spending the tickets.

At the start of the game, each player also gets two destination cards which tell you what routes you need to connect, and once you’ve completed a route you can take more routes as well. Completed routes get your points, and the longest continuous train track also gets points.

Sessions last for an hour or so including the time it takes to set up and pack away all the little pieces, but the game is really fun. There’s also a Web version and app, so you can get a taste of the game without having to put down much money at first. However, this is one of those games where the physical version really adds a lot of value.

Buy Ticket to Ride on Amazon for Rs 4,690.

6. Discworld: Ankh-Morpork

Based on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld book series, Discworld Ankh-Morpork is another gorgeous game that fans of the series really should try out. It’s a fun strategy game on its own terms, and the game’s Discworld trappings just take it to the next level.

Meant for two to four players, the map is a gorgeous reproduction of the city of Ankh-Morpork, and features the locations you’ve read about in the books. The character cards are also based on characters from Pratchett’s stories, and although set up takes some time and effort, the gameplay is quick and simple. Each turn, you’re playing one of your cards, and carrying out the actions written on them, while you vie for control of territory in the city once the Patrician Lord Vetinari goes missing.

You can place your minions on the board, make money in a number of different ways, or even try to bump off the competition. What makes it a little more complicated and fun is that each of you is also playing as a character yourself — and these characters have different victory conditions, so it might appear that someone is helping you out except they’re actually making their own moves.

Although there’s a lot of strategy involved in winning this game, there’s also a certain amount of luck involved and dice rolls. It’s a fine balance and the game does a great job of seeming fair despite relying on luck.

Discworld: Ankh-Morpork is currently unavailable online, but we purchased it in Khan Market in Delhi for Rs 11,990.

7. A Game of Thrones: The Board Game

If you’re a fan of HBO’s hit series based on the books by George R R Martin, you’re going to want to check out Game of Thrones: The Board Game. But this is a board game for people who are willing to commit some time to it. The game is set after the death of Robert Baratheon, during the War of the Five Kings. Up to six players take control of different factions from among the great houses including everyone’s favourites, the Starks and the Lannisters.

You’re fighting for control of the seven kingdoms, and each army has different resources to begin with. You’re starting with different troops and resources, and different geographical conditions, which has all the makings of a good strategy game.

But this is Game of Thrones we’re talking about so of course there’s a little extra complication in the mix. There are a lot of different resources up for grabs, and a lot of negotiation going on for power. You can’t just build up a giant army and crush everyone, so there’s a lot of deal-making and promises, and of course, a great deal of backstabbing too.

Play too honourably and you’ll find yourself as dead as Ned Stark, but betray everyone you know and you’ll soon be isolated and then it’s off with your head instead. Through the planning phase, everyone takes turn to issue orders to their armies, and these are executed in the action phase, so there’s a fair amount of tension in how much you can trust someone and how far you can stretch your limited military resources. Just like in the series!

If that sounds like something you want to get started with, we should present one caveat—the game is long. Just setting up everything can take a long time when you’re still uncertain about how the resources are distributed or what the rules are. The first play session we had lasted for six hours (with a couple of breaks for food, and sanity)  and then packing everything away is another long haul. This isn’t a game you just pick up and play. But even if your friends aren’t enthusiastic board gamers, this could be part of a great weekend plan where you stream an episode on Sunday and then play a session with your friends, before the next episode is out on Hotstar on Monday morning.

Buy A Game of Thrones: The Board Game on Amazon for Rs 5,999.

The past few days have seen a lot of interest over Akshay Kumar’s ambiguous citizenship status given that he was nowhere to be found when Mumbai went to vote. 

While Kumar, patriot-in-chief of Bollywood, had said his Canadian citizenship was purely ‘honorary,’ a report by Pinkvilla found that to be untrue, forcing Kumar to release a statement.

Admitting that he indeed is a Canadian citizen, Kumar put out the following statement and people doubled down on the criticism given that he had only recently interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Actor Siddharth, a vocal critic of the BJP government and majoritarian politics, wasted no time in drafting a not-so-sly tweet aimed at Kumar.

Check it out here:

New Delhi — The Election Commission Friday found no violation of model code or its instructions on armed forces in two speeches delivered by BJP president Amit Shah in West Bengal and Maharashtra.

The Commission concluded that it is of the considered view that in this matter, no such violation of MCC or ECI’s instructions is made out.

Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar in West Bengal, Shah reportedly said when IAF jets pounded terror camps in Balakot, the act was mourned in Pakistan and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s office.

He also reportedly said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “sent his Air Force” to destroy terror camps in Pakistan after the deadly Pulwama attack in February this year.

“Forty-four of jawans were martyred in Pulwama terror attack. Earlier, nothing used to happen after such incidents. Narendra Modi ordered his Air Force on the 13th day (of the incident) and our aircraft blew the terrorists to pieces in Pakistan,” Shah said at the rally.

Responding to a complaint by Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala against Shah, the poll body said a detailed report of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal was obtained.

“The matter has been examined in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of complete transcript of speech sent by the DEO Nadia, the Commission is of the considered view that in this matter, no such violation of MCC or ECI’s instructions is made out,” it said.

Addressing another rally in Nagpur on April 9, the BJP president reportedly said when the whole country was rejoicing over the air strike on a terror camp in Balakot, there was mourning only in Pakistan and Rahul Gandhi-led Congress party.

Shah also took a jibe at Gandhi’s public rallies in Wayanad.

The Gandhi scion is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad in Kerala along with his traditional bastion of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

Shah said Gandhi’s rallies in Wayanad appeared as they were being organised in Pakistan. He also said the Modi government’s biggest success was that it had made India secure which was not the case when the Congress-led UPA was in power.

On this issue too, the Commission said, “The matter has been examined in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of complete transcript of speech of six pages sent by the DEO Nagpur, Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of MCC or ECI’s instructions is made out.”

The poll panel, however, decided to issue a show cause notice to Goa minister Mauvin Godinho, who described the Indian Air Force (IAF) as “Modi’s Airforce”.

“The Commission has decided to give a notice and provide Godinho an opportunity to explain his stand in making the references to armed forces, before 5 pm on May 6, failing which the Commission shall take a decision without further reference,” it said.

NEW DELHI — In a heated courtroom drama that lasted for almost two hours, former Union minister M J Akbar Saturday recorded his statement and was cross examined in a defamation case filed by him against journalist Priya Ramani.

Akbar, who appeared before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, said the allegations made by Ramani were “malafide” and “defamatory”.

Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Ramani, cross examined Akbar on details regarding Ramani joining The Asian Age, among others.

However, Akbar responded to most of the questions as ” I do not remember”.

Akbar, who resigned as Union minister on October 17 last year, had filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Ramani after his name cropped up on social media as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India.

Ramani has accused Akbar of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago when he was a journalist. Akbar has denied the accusations.

The court has posted the matter for the next hearing on May 20.

NEW DELHI — BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi Saturday said only actresses with a TMC ticket do not represent all women in politics, and that the Mamata Banerjee-led party fielding popular faces of the Bengali film industry cannot be called women empowerment.

The BJP candidate from the high-profile New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency also said all parties need to put in extra efforts to boost the participation of the fairer sex in public life at every level.

Only 18 of the 164 candidates in the fray in Delhi are women, according to data from Delhi’s chief electoral office.

“More women should join politics. They should be interested in politics. Giving women ticket for the sake of it is not the right thing to do,” Lekhi told PTI in an interview, citing the example of the Trinamool Congress.

“The TMC has given tickets to all the actresses as if they only represent the womenfolk and ‘normal women’ are not worthy of being in politics. This is not women empowerment. The TMC is encashing the popularity of these faces,” she alleged.

When pointed out that the BJP has also fielded actresses such as Jaya Prada and Hema Malini, Lekhi said only those who have proven themselves in politics have been given tickets by her party.

It’s absolutely fine to give a ticket to an actress who has spent a considerable amount of time in politics, promoting party and working in the field, she said.

“People from any profession can join politics. But, giving someone a ticket just because she’s an actress and has some amount of popularity quotient?... I don’t know,” she said.

The 52-year-old lawyer said women are finding it hard to move away from the drudgery of normal life.

“To boost the participation of women in politics, we need an accepting society. Financial background and family support also play a major role,” she said.

 “I think all parties need to put in extra efforts to get more women into their fold at every level,” she said.

Of the 13 women candidates who were in the fray in Delhi in 2014, only Lekhi had come out on the top. This time, she is pitted against Congress’s Ajay Maken, a two-time MP, and AAP’s Brijesh Goyal, a first-timer.

Lekhi also said Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made the right choice by not contesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as it would have exposed her, her husband and the Congress’s campaign.

“Had she decided to contest, a lot of murkier things would have come out in the open through the affidavits she would have filed before the electoral officers. There would have been a multi-fold exposure,” she claimed.

On the BJP’s shift from the issue of development to nationalism, she said, “How are the two issues different? Can you improve the economic condition of any country without making its people safe and secure. Can a country, whose borders aren’t safe, be prosperous?

“The two issues are completely inter-linked. Only when you put your country before everything else, then only you can move forward with a developmental agenda,” she said.

On Maken’s claim that Lekhi is trying to encash Modi’s image as she herself failed to do anything for the constituency, she said her rival neither has any credibility nor a name like Modi.

“All the problems Delhi is plagued with are related to urban development. The Congress and Maken, a former urban development minister, are responsible for the mess. He should tell what did they do in 10 years ― from 2004 to 2014,” she said.

Maken says during his tenure as urban development minister, he made 170 amendments to Delhi’s master plan to resolve the sealing issue and the BJP government could have done the same.

To this, Lekhi said, “An affidavit has been filed in the Supreme Court with a roadmap to remove the anomalies in Delhi’s master plan.”

“The sealing drive started during his tenure as central minister. It’s the BJP government that extended floor area ratio (FAR) for shop-cum-residence plots and complexes to bring it at par with residential plots to provide relief to traders facing the threat of sealing,” she claimed.

Asked if the issue of air pollution figures in her poll campaign, she said, “Yes, but my problem is that I can’t replace the Delhi government. The pollution control committee falls under Delhi government.”

The Delhi government has not even studied the reasons for pollution in the city. The air quality is depleting not because of vehicles, but because of dust from construction and demolition waste lying untreated, she said.

The AAP spent a huge amount of money on the publicity of an application meant for treating C&D waste but nothing happened, she alleged.

On a number of PWD roads, debris is lying unattended. Workers are just constructing and dismantling the same stretch repeatedly, Lekhi alleged.

She claimed she spent Rs 32 crore from MPLAD funds, including Rs 7.6 crore left unspent by her predecessor Maken on developmental works in the constituency.

Under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD), every MP is given Rs 5 crore per year for undertaking developmental projects in his or her constituency.

Lekhi claimed she brought the concept of open gyms in the country, “which is being emulated by everyone now”.

She also claimed credit for the renovation works at the three major railway stations in the constituency ― New Delhi, Delhi Cantt, and Sarai Rohilla.

“Normally, officers used to travel abroad. When I sat in the chair, I sent the gardeners, class 3 and class 4 employees to European countries like Holland and Spain for training,” she said.

NEW DELHI — Taking the BJP’s nationalism narrative in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls head-on, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the Indian Army is not Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “personal property” and it should not be politicised as he also slammed the government on tackling terror, citing JeM chief Masood Azhar’s release during the NDA rule.

Asserting that terrorism is a huge issue, Gandhi alleged that the BJP compromises on it, adding that the Congress will deal with it “more sternly” than Modi because it works with a strategy, rather than “events”.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, he also hit out at the prime minister over his remarks that the Congress conducted surgical strikes only “on paper” and the leaders of the opposition party thought those were akin to video games.

Gandhi said Modi’s comments were not an insult to the Congress, but to the Army.

Asked about the prime minister invoking Masood Azhar’s designation as a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) at a poll rally soon after the decision was announced, the Congress president said the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief is a terrorist and the strictest action should be taken against him.

“Who had sent him there? He is being designated, but who sent him there in the first place? How did he reach Pakistan? Has the Congress party sent him to Pakistan? Which government had negotiated with terrorism, bowed in front of terrorism, who sent him back?,” he asked, alluding to Azhar’s release in the Kandahar hijacking case during the NDA rule in 1999.

“The Congress did not send him (Azhar) back. The reality is that the BJP compromises (with terrorism). The Congress has never done such a thing. The Congress party has never sent a terrorist to Pakistan and will never do so,” Gandhi, who was flanked by senior Congress leaders P Chidambaram, Ahmed Patel, Anand Sharma and Randeep Surjewala, said.

Azhar and two other terrorists ― Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh ― were released by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government in exchange for the passengers held hostage on board Indian Airlines flight IC-814, which was hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

Then foreign minister Jaswant Singh had accompanied Azhar in a special aircraft and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, then a top Intelligence Bureau (IB) official, was in Kandahar as part of India’s negotiating team when the terrorists were handed over.

Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of taking credit for the Army’s actions and ignoring key issues such as unemployment and agrarian distress, Gandhi said, “Modi thinks the Army, Navy and Air Force are his personal property.”

Referring to the six surgical strikes the Congress had listed as carried out under the UPA rule, he said those were not conducted by his party, but by the Army.

“When he (Modi) says the Indian Army’s surgical strikes were video games, he does not insult the Congress, but the Indian Army.

“The Army had done this (surgical strikes). It is their job. We do not politicise the Army. It is the Indian Army, not a particular person’s Army. The prime minister should have that much of respect and not insult the Army,” the Congress chief said.

He said the Army was doing its job for 70 years and had won every battle.

“It is a terrific record. What does Modi have to do with it as it is the Army’s job. Modi should tell the country what is he doing for the youth, what is he going to do for farmers, for women,” he said.

Gandhi also said there was a clear-cut feeling after four phases of the Lok Sabha polls that the BJP was losing the electoral battle.

The main issues in the ongoing polls are employment, farmers’ problems, prime minister’s corruption and attacks on institutions, he said.

“Our internal assessment is clearly telling us that the BJP is losing the election,” he added.

Gandhi claimed that there were signs of panic in the BJP’s poll campaign.

“I see a scared prime minister, unable to face the onslaught of the opposition and absolutely convinced in his mind that he is trapped. It is a panicky campaign,” he said.

The Congress chief once again challenged Modi to debate him on issues such as employment and corruption.

“I can debate him anywhere apart from Anil Ambani’s home,” he said to peals of laughter.

Gandhi also slammed the prime minister over the Rafale agreement and said if Modi agrees to a debate, he will ask him to explain why parallel negotiations were carried out in the deal.

“In the Rafale deal, the ‘chowkidar’ (watchman) has stolen Rs 30,000 crore,” he alleged.

Gandhi also accused the prime minister of harming the country’s economy big time by carrying out demonetisation and implementing a “flawed” Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“He demonetised the economy, we will remonetise it through (minimum income guarantee scheme) NYAY,” he said.

On the issue of his apology to the Supreme Court for attributing the ‘chowkidar chor hai’ (the watchman is a thief) slogan to it, Gandhi said he apologised as there was a process on in the court and he had commented on that.

However, he added that he stands by his slogan against the BJP and the prime minister for corruption in the Rafale deal.

Gandhi also alleged that the Election Commission (EC) is “completely biased” towards the opposition.

In an interview with Mirror Now, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit commented that the Delhi gangrape was ‘blown out of proportion’ by the media. She also attempted to wash her hands off the law and order situation in the city, by saying that was under the purview of the Central government. The government at the Centre was one led by Congress in 2012, the party Dikshit hails from.

On 16 December 2012, a young woman was raped by five men on a moving bus in Delhi. She later died from the injuries she sustained. Her death led to widespread protests, even leading the police to fire water canons at protesters occasionally. The anti-rape laws were also strengthened in the following months.

Dikshit sought to explain her comments by pointing out that all rapes, including rape of children, doesn’t get the same kind of attention that the gangrape in Delhi did at that time. In saying that, she trivialised the massive protests that ultimately compelled the political class to act to the rape laws and make them stronger. 

“Sometimes you ignore rapes, just a little thing in the newspaper...little children being raped...and one was made into a political scandal,” she said. 

When the interviewer grilled her about street lighting and CCTV cameras, she went on the defensive and reiterated that it was the Centre’s duty to make sure these things are functional in Delhi.

Dikshit is contesting from North East Delhi in the elections this year.

Watch the interview here:

Chandigarh—US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently kickstarted a debate and a number of newspaper op-eds in his country by saying that prisoners should be allowed to vote while serving their sentences.

In India, where every election season brings with it multiple voter awareness campaigns, no political party has so far announced any support for the voting rights of prisoners. As per the National Prisons Information Portal (NPIP) data, India has around 4.77 lakh prisoners—over 64% of these are undertrials in over 1,412 prisons.

Put differently, lakhs of innocent Indian citizens who have not been found guilty by any court of law, nevertheless, do not vote. 

While the Representation of the People’s Act (RPA),1951, grants citizens who have been held under preventive custody under the Goondas Act, National Security Act and Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (Cofeposa) the right to vote, other prisoners, including undertrials and those who have been convicted, are not allowed to vote in India.

Even prisoners in the categories allowed to vote have to first write to jail authorities for permission to cast a postal ballot, but barely anyone does that. Dr. Karuna Raju, Punjab’s Chief Election Commissioner, told HuffPost India that for the 2019 general election, the state didn’t receive a single voting request from people held under preventive custody.

Even in Telangana, which has carried out prison reforms successfully, only four of the 300 detainees under preventive custody voted in the election on April 11, claims police sources.

Why are prisoners not allowed to vote in India?

There have been multiple arguments against the idea: while some have argued that people who commit a crime have broken the social contract and hence should give up their constitutional rights, some feel that enforcement agencies like state police will put undue pressure on the prisoners to vote for the ruling party in a respective state.  

After all, in a democracy, Har Ek Vote Zaroori Hota Hai…(Every single vote counts). Arguably, the best known example of this is when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee moved a motion of confidence in the parliament to prove he had the support of the majority, his 13-month old government fell for want of just 1 vote in 1998. 

Shivanshi Asthana, who works on issues related to electoral reforms in SAARC countries, wrote for Quartz India in March that there are many reasons to allow prisoners to vote, including that there is no differentiation in terms of gradations of crime, meaning that even a person who has committed a minor transgression is stripped of the right. She also pointed out that it is ironic that those charged with crimes are prevented from voting when they are allowed to contest elections.

Three law students from Uttar Pradesh-based Galgotias University have challenged in the Delhi high court the constitutionality of section 62(5) of the RPA, which deprives prisoners of their right to vote.

The section says, “no person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in lawful custody of the police: Provided that nothing in this subsection shall apply to a person subjected to preventive detention under any law for the time being in force”.

Praveen Kumar Chaudhary, one of the three students, told HuffPost India that giving prisoners the right to vote can help curb violation of human rights and ensure “the safety and privacy of women prisoners in India”.

While the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on March 8 and asked them to reply within three weeks, it hasn’t received a response yet.

The case is coming up for hearing on May 9.

In 1919, when the British enacted the Government of India Act, they included this provision to prevent Indian prisoners lodged in jails from voting.

The Act was later repealed by the tenth schedule of the Government of India’s Act 1935 to provide voting rights for every person registered on the electoral roll for the time being in force for any constituency. After independence, this Act with all enactments was repealed under Article 395 of the Constitution of India.

“From 1919 to 1935, the word “convicted” was broadened to include person undergoing a sentence or transportation penal servitude, or imprisonment. The Government of India Act 1935 set out the precedent for Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951, but the precedents should not be allowed to retain its status or allowed to dilute the vote of every citizen in Democratic, Socialist and Republic India,” said Chaudhary.

Law giveth?

Multiple judgements by the Supreme Court and various  high courts have upheld the validity of Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The same provision has been challenged on the grounds of Article 14 of the Constitution. In Anukul Chandra Pradhan v/s Union of India case, the Supreme Court observed that the right to vote is subject to the limitations imposed by the statute .

In Mahendra Kumar Shastri v/s Union of India, the Supreme Court observed that the restriction imposed by the Representation of the People Act, 1951 was not unconstitutional and was in public interest.

In one of its decisions, the Patna high court said thatthe right to vote is a statutory right. The law gives it, and the law can take it away.

Lawyer and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal thinks that voting rights should be granted to prisoners as they do not stop being citizens of India.

“Even after conviction, many apply for a repeal and are proved  innocent. Also, a convicted person can contest elections after a stipulated period. Along with the convicted, even undertrials who are yet to be proven guilty were denied voting rights. We need to bring in legislation to make an amendment in the provision,” Sibal told HuffPost India.

Ranjan Lakhanpal, a Chandigarh based human rights lawyer and activist,  said that prisons should be seen as a place where rehabilitation and opportunities for social transformation are possible.

“Hundreds of cases from the overcrowded prisons speaks about maltreatment and human rights violations worldwide. By granting voting rights to the prisoners, we will give them a chance to be included in the society as a responsible citizen and that is the first step to democracy,” he said.

How do prisoners under preventive custody vote?

According to section 21 of the RPA, anyone detained in jail without being convicted can vote. For this, a detainee has to write to the returning officer that they want to vote, including their name, address, place of detention and electoral roll number. They can then cast a postal ballot which will be filled in the presence of a jail superintendent, commandant of a detention camp or any election officer.

Dr. Raju, the Punjab CEC, said there was a lack of awareness among people under preventive custody about their voting rights.

“During every meeting, we highlighted to the jail authorities to encourage voting among such detainees but no one has come forward to cast their vote. As of today, none of the detainees of preventive custody in Punjab have applied for a postal ballot in the 2019 parliamentary elections,” said Dr. Raju.

“We are still struggling to get fresh air and drinking water and busy in addressing farmers’ concerns and other issues. It is still not the top priority for us,” said Sibal.

NEW DELHI: Campaigning ended Saturday evening for elections to 51 Lok Sabha seats in six northern and eastern states besides the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh in the fifth phase on May 6 with Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Smriti Irani, Jayant Sinha and Arjun Ram Meghwal as well as top Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi among those in the fray.

Polling will be held on Monday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 12 in Rajasthan, seven seats each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, five in Bihar, four in Jharkhand and two seats in Jammu and Kashmir.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP’s campaigning, holding several rallies. BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and a host of Union ministers among others also canvassed for their party candidates in the past few days, undertaking whirlwind tours of constituencies. 

In West Bengal, the BJP candidate from Bongaon (SC) seat, Shantanu Thakur, was injured in a road accident. A police van lost control and hit Thakur’s vehicle at the front when he was heading towards Kalyani to attend an election rally on the last day of campaigning, police said.

Thakur, his driver and two others who were in the vehicle, were injured, they said.

Campaigning in the state during the past couple of days was marred by panic over Cyclone Fani, which caused large scale destruction in neighbouring Odisha, with political parties cancelling their election meetings.

Seats in which elections will be held on Monday are Bongaon(SC), Barrackpur, Howrah, Uluberia, Serampore, Hooghly and Arambagh (SC) where an electorate of 1,16,91,889 will decide the fate of 83 candidates, the Election Commission said. 

In Bihar, Modi canvassed in favour of the BJP candidates as also nominees fielded by alliance partners JD(U) and LJP.

He described the ruling NDA in the state as a cohesive three-in-one entity and the opposition weak, loosely knit and helpless against menaces of black money, corruption and threats to national security.

BJP MPs Ajay Nishad and Rajiv Pratap Rudy are seeking re-election from their respective seats of Muzaffarpur and Saran respectively in Bihar. 

LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, who has announced that he would no longer contest direct elections, has fielded his younger brother and state minister Pashupati Kumar Paras from his pocket borough of Hajipur.

A high-decibel campaign for seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh also ended Saturday.

Polling for Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul seats, all held by the BJP currently, will take place Monday.

This will be the second phase of polling in Madhya Pradesh, the first phase having been held on April 29.

Union minister Virendra Kumar Khatik is the BJP candidate from Tikamgarh while former Union minister and sitting MP Prahlad Patel is the party’s Damoh candidate.

Modi Saturday addressing rallies in Pratapgarh and Basti in Uttar Pradesh and said the SP-BSP alliance partners will be at each other’s throats when the results are out on May 23. He also accused the Samajwadi Party of going soft on the Congress, saying the two parties are playing a “big game” against Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati.

The BJP had bagged 12 of the 14 seats in 2014 with Sonia Gandhi winning in Rae Bareli and Rahul in Amethi.

The other UP seats going to the polls on May 6 are Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj (SC), Lucknow, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Bahraich (SC), Kaiserganj and Gonda.

Union Home Minister Singh is seeking re-election from Lucknow, while his colleague at the Centre Irani is again taking on Rahul in Amethi.

Rajasthan also saw hectic campaigning by the BJP and the Congress over the past week for the 12 seats.

Union ministers Rathore (Jaipur rural) and Meghwal (Bikaner), Congress MLA and Olympian Krishna Poonia (Jaipur rural), Bhanwar Jitendra Singh (Alwar) are some of the contestants in this last phase of polling in the state. 

In Jharkhand, among those in the fray is Union minister Jayant Sinha.

In Jammu and Kashmir, Pulwama and Shopian districts are going to polls on May 6 in the third leg of polling in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency. Polling will also be held in Ladakh on Monday.

NEW DELHI―Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Sunday held the BJP responsible for the attack on him during a roadshow and charged that the police is merely following the script given by the ruling party.

Kejriwal was slapped allegedly by a disgruntled AAP supporter during a roadshow in Moti Nagar on Saturday.

Noting that it was the ninth attack on him and the fifth since he became the chief minister, Kejriwal said it was not an attack on him but on the mandate of the people of Delhi.

No immediate response was received either from the BJP or the police.

“They (BJP) do not want common man to enter politics so we are being targeted, he told reporters.

Kejriwal said Delhi Police’s response was carefully scripted. 

“It was done at the behest of the BJP”, he charged.

He also dismissed the charge that the attacker was an AAP supporter as claimed by the police.

Delhi Police said Saturday that preliminary interrogation has revealed that 33-year-old Suresh, a scrap dealer in the area, was a supporter of AAP and he used to work as organiser of its rallies and meetings.

An inquiry by a DCP-level officer has been ordered to find out how this person was allowed to be in the reception/proximate group, Additional PRO, Delhi Police Anil Mittal had said.

NEW DELHI―Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday strongly responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s jibe against their father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday where the latter called him “Brashtachari No.1” (Corrupt No.1).

“The battle is over. Your Karma awaits you. Projecting your inner beliefs about yourself onto my father won’t protect you,” the Congress President wrote on micro-blogging site twitter.

His sister Priyanka Gandhi was more aggressive in her response. “The Prime Minister who insults martyrs by asking for votes in the name of their martyrdom, in his unrestrained madness, insulted the martyrdom of a decent and pure man yesterday. The people of Amethi, for whom Rajiv Gandhi laid down his life, will respond appropriately. Yes Modiji, this country never pardons those who betray it,” she tweeted. 

On Saturday, Modi had said, “Your father was termed ‘Mr. Clean’ by his courtiers, but his life ended as ‘Brashtachari No. 1’”. (Corrupt No.1) This was stated in response to the Congress President’s repeated criticism of the Prime Minister as corrupt. 

The war of words has come a day before the fifth phase of polling in the ongoing Lok Sabha election. 

NEW DELHI―Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be shown exit door as his five-year rule has been “most traumatic and devastating” for India’s youth, farmers, traders and every democratic institution, his predecessor Manmohan Singh said Sunday.

Singh, in an exclusive interview to PTI, dismissed the notion that there was a wave in favour of Modi and asserted that the people have made up their minds to vote out the government that “does not believe in inclusive growth and is only worried about its political existence at the altar of disharmony”.

In one of his most fierce attacks on the Modi dispensation, Singh alleged that the past five years only witnessed “stench” of corruption peaking to “unimaginable proportions”, adding demonetisation was perhaps the “biggest scam” of independent India.

Incidentally, the BJP campaign in the run-up to the 2014 elections had centred on various alleged scams, including in the allocations of 2G spectrum and coal blocks, during the 10-year tenure of the Singh-led UPA government.

The former prime minister also called Modi’s Pakistan policy “slipshod”, which he said was marred by a series of “flip-flops” ― from going to Pakistan uninvited to inviting “rogue” ISI to the Pathankot air base in connection with the probe into a terrorist attack.

Singh, known as the architect of India’s economic reforms in 1990s, felt the country is headed for a slowdown and accused the Modi regime of leaving the country’s economy in “dire straits”.

He said people are “fed up” with the daily rhetoric and cosmetic change by the current dispensation and there is an undercurrent against this “illusion and boastful self aggrandizement”.

In a bid to counter the BJP’s focus on the issues of nationalism and terrorism in this election, the former prime minister sought to question Modi’s commitment. 

He said it was “distressing” to note that Modi was “filming movies” in the Jim Corbett National Park instead of chairing any meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

He claimed the “gross intelligence failure” in Pulwama speaks volumes about this government’s preparedness to tackle terror.

“Let’s not forget that Narendra Modi’s slipshod policy on Pakistan has been marred by a series of flip-flops- from going to Pakistan uninvited to inviting the rogue ISI to investigate the Pathankot Air Base terror attack. Does it not speak volumes about the strategic failures of Modi Government on national security front,” he asked.

Singh said the Modi government’s record on national security is “dismal” as incidents of terrorism have seen a quantum jump.

“A lie spoken a hundred times does not become the truth,” he said on Modi’s plank of nationalism, adding that terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir alone have gone up by 176 per cent and ceasefire violations at the border with Pakistan up 1,000 per cent in the past five years.

He said that division and hate have become synonymous with the BJP and it thrives on societal fissures.

“A government which does not believe in inclusive growth and is only worried about its political existence at the altar of disharmony should be immediately shown the exit door,” he noted.

He alleged that in the past five years the stench of corruption has peaked to “unimaginable proportions” and “there is a definite collusion of people holding political positions and scamsters who fled the country after defrauding banks”.

Singh said the BJP’s “political distress” emanates from its “failed track record” and claimed the party is searching for new narratives everyday. “This reflects the bankruptcy of a national security vision for the country.” 

“Five years of Modi Government is a sad story of governance and accountability failure. In the year 2014, Modiji came to power on the promise of ‘acche din’. His five years rule has ended up being the most traumatic and devastating for India’s youth, farmers, traders, businesses and every democratic institution,” he said.

“Our socio-political ambience has lost cohesiveness. People are fed up with the daily loud rhetoric of cosmetic change. There is a sense of deep despair and disillusionment amongst the masses. People have made up their minds to reject the Modi Government and the BJP so that the future of India is safe and secure,” Singh said.

The former Prime Minister said one man would not do any justice to the aspirations and hopes of the people by imposing the thought process and will of ‘one person’ on a diverse country like India. 

“Representation in India is very important. A single man can neither represent all the desires of 130 crore people of India and can also not solve the variety of problems faced by them. The idea of ‘one man as the monolith of knowledge’ cannot be applied to India,” he said on whether a presidential form of election is good for democracy.

On foreign policy, he said India has always been guided by national interests and not for “image building of any individual”.

Foreign policy entails “gravitas”, a sense of diplomacy and restraint, sensitivity towards the concerns of the host nation and ultimately furthering the interests of India, but “regrettably, this government’s foreign policy is founded upon anything but a mature comprehension of diplomacy”, he said.

NEW DELHI―The Supreme Court Sunday termed as “wholly incorrect” a media report that said that Justices RF Nariman and DY Chandrachud met Justice SA Bobde, who is heading the in-house committee inquiring into sexual harassment allegations against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

A statement issued by the office of the Supreme Court’s secretary general said it is “most unfortunate” that a leading newspaper chose to state that the two judges met Justice Bobde on Friday evening.

The statement said the in-house committee, which is deliberating on the issue concerning the CJI, deliberates on its own without any input from any other judge of the apex court.

A report in a leading newspaper Sunday stated that justices Nariman and Chandrachud had met Justice Bobde and had expressed their view that the three-member committee should not go ahead with the proceeding ex parte.

The former woman employee of the apex court, who levelled the sexual harassment allegations, had opted herself out of the inquiry raising several grievances, including denial of permission to have her lawyer during proceedings.

A source had earlier said the woman opted not to participate in the proceedings despite being told about consequence that the committee can go ahead with its task ex-parte. She had appeared before the panel for three days.

Justice Bobde on April 23 had told PTI, “This is going to be an in-house procedure which does not contemplate representation of advocate on behalf of parties. It is not a formal judicial proceeding.” 

He had clarified that there is no time frame to complete the inquiry and future course of action will depend on “what comes out of the inquiry” which will be “confidential”.

The newspaper has stated that justices Nariman and Chandrachud had suggested appointment of an advocate as an amicus curie for assisting the in-house committee.

Besides Justice Bobde, other members in the committee are two women judges of the apex court ― justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee.

An official source Sunday that the in-house panel deliberates on its own and if any judge, as reported, makes any suggestion, it amounts to interference in proceedings of the committee.

The statement said, “It is most unfortunate that a leading newspaper has chosen to state that justices RF Nariman and DY Chandrachud together met Justice SA Bobde on Friday evening, i.e. on May 3, 2019. This is wholly incorrect. The in-house committee which is deliberating on the issue concerning the CJI, deliberates on its own without any input of any other judge of this court.” 

Chief Justice Gogoi had Wednesday appeared before an in-house inquiry committee looking into allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by a former woman employee of the Supreme Court.

NEW DELHI — In an unprecedented move, last month, 66 retired bureaucrats wrote a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind questioning the “independence” of the Election Commission, a three-member Constitutional body charged with conducting free and fair elections in India.

The EC, these bureaucrats said, has been “weak-kneed” in responding to alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s televised speech after India conducted an anti-satellite test, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath describing the Indian Army as “Modi ki sena,” and the launch of NaMo TV  after the MCC was enforced.

While Adityanath was barred from campaigning for three days for saying that “Bajrang Bali” was with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and “Ali” was with the Opposition parties — and cautioned about his ‘Modi ki sena’ remark — the EC has decided that Modi’s remarks about Congress “insulting” Hindus, and its president Rahul Gandhi constituency where the “majority is in minority,” does not violate the MCC. 

The EC has also given BJP president Amit Shah a clean chit for referring to the Indian Air Force as “his (Modi’s) Air Force.” 

In an interview with HuffPost India, Supreme Court lawyer and Congress Party leader Kapil Sibal said the EC was suffering from a crisis of credibility like never before.

The Rajya Sabha lawmaker and former Union Minister, who has moved the Supreme Court for greater transparency in the counting of votes, also questioned  EC’s recent submissions in matters related to the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

Has there been a crisis of faith in the EC before this?

No, never. It’s unfortunate but that’s the way it is. We had people like (James Michael) Lyngdoh (2001-2004) and (T.N.) Seshan (1990-1996), who stood up. The Election Commission is functioning in a manner that raises a lot of questions. They must not only act in a fair manner, but seen to be acting in a fair manner. That’s not what happened, They have fallen far short of that constitutional premise and that constitutional duty reflected in Article 324 of the Constitution. Their actions have fallen far short of how the public expects an election to be conducted. 

(Article 324 — Superintendence, direction and control of elections to be vested in an Election Commission...).

How do you mean?

I’m deeply disappointed. I don’t think the EC has functioned... The EC’s direction that you can’t use our martyrs as part of your political discourse, he (Modi) has violated that time and again and the EC has said there are no violations.

What else is of concern?

The very structure of the election. You have Gujarat in one go, but in Bihar — five seats in one phase, six seats in another phase, four or five seats in another phase — it makes no sense. It’s all tailor-made, unfortunately.

For the BJP?

It’s tailor-made. I don’t know for whom, but it doesn’t make sense. There is no logic to it. The same way in West Bengal, six phases.

You have railed against the use of EVMs in Indian elections. Why?

My opposition to this is ideological. Any voting pattern must be completely transparent. There are two elements to voting — casting a vote in favour of a person, or a party. In the Indian context, against a symbol. A person knows that he has voted for a particular person with the symbol, but he is completely unaware of the counting after that.

The second element of the vote is that his vote must be counted towards the person for whom he voted. The second element is not transparent because the counting is done by the machine, and he is unrelated to that.

When you have a ballot box, you cast your vote and the counting agent takes the ballot out, unfolds it, sees for whom that vote was cast and then puts in a bundle which represents that person. The second element in the machine is non-transparent because the counting is done by the machine.

(Opposition parties have contended that votes in malfunctioning EVMS have gone to the BJP. These claims have not been verified.

However, in one case from Zilla Parishad election held in Buldhana, Lonar in 2017, a Right to Information (RTI) query revealed that “every time the voter pressed a symbol of the coconut, allotted to a candidate (independent), the LED lamp of the BJP’s Lotus used to flash).”

It seems counter-intuitive to go from a voting machine back to ballot paper.

Only 18 countries in the world use machines. The rest of the world doesn’t use it. All of Europe doesn’t use it. Not all of America uses it in a Presidential election. You must make sure that the entire voting process has no element of suspicion. That’s the fundamental and ideological basis of my objection. It has nothing to do with whether the machine is tampered or not tampered with.

(At present, 20 countries use some form of electronic voting). 

How has the EC responded to these concerns?

The EC’s response is that these machines cannot be tampered. That’s an absolute statement that I cannot agree with. Any machine in the world can be tampered. If centrifuges in Iran can be tampered while sitting in the United States, anything can be done. But I have no proof that the machine is tampered.

You represented 21 political parties that are demanding verification of 50% of VVAPT votes.  

So, when I say count 50% of the VVPATs in every Assembly section in every booth, the Election Commission tells the Supreme Court that it will take an additional five or six days for the result to come out. That means if the results are to come out on May 23 through a machine, then the results will come on May 27, which is unacceptable. This means that convenience is more important than assurance. I would vote for assurance rather than convenience. I would rather wait for four to five days to make sure the results are untainted. That logic of the Election Commission is flawed.

(The Supreme Court has ordered the EC to increase VVPAT verification from one EVM to five in every Assembly segment).

Will it take an additional five to six days?

I don’t accept the proposition that it will take four to five days. In a ballot paper, it is a big ballot paper. You have to unfold it, look at who the person has voted for, and stick it in a bundle. This doesn’t happen in a VVPAT.

In a VVPAT, there is a slip that come out, which you can see for seven second and that goes into a bag. The person you have voted for is in the bag. You don’t have to unfold anything. Why would they say five to six days)?

Do we have to know the results five days after the final polling day?

Time is never of the essence. Assurance that the electoral verdict is untainted is of the essence. They have spent thousands of crores putting in VVPATS and yet they don’t want the assurance of an untainted verdict — I don’t understand it.  A clean electoral verdict is the foundation of a democracy.

Have there been issues with the EVMs in this election?

Several machines have not functioned properly. There have been delays. In Andhra (Pradesh), for example, counting went on till four in the morning. The allegation made in Andhra is that in some machines, the VVPAT slip is shown only for three seconds (instead of seven seconds) and so the programming is different. That is also a matter of suspicion. Why should the process be subject to any suspicion?

(The counting in Andhra Pradesh went on till one in the morning due to EVM glitches. Voters were stuck in the queue for seven hours). 

Why not count all the VVPATs?

If you count at least 50%, you’ll know there is a variation between the actual counting and the VVPAT. You’ll know whether there has been any bungling or not.

Is there any issue other than time given by the ECC?

Time. And they said that we’ll have to make extra arrangements. We’ll need many more hands to monitor this process.

This six days was a figure that was put forward by the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI)?

We have a problem with that as well. They said this is a study of the Indian Statistical Institute. When we filed an RTI, the ISI told us that there is no such study that we have sent. Apparently, the person who is the head of the Delhi chapter of the ISI, he was asked and he gave a study to the commission. He nominated a couple of people and they gave a study to the Election Commission. It was not a formal study of the ISI. We have also got other experts who say that the basis of this report has been given by the head of the Delhi chapter of the ISI. That’s controversial.

The Supreme Court has backed the EC.

They have accepted what they have said. We are disappointed. The courts should also makes sure that the process is without any possibility of it being tampered.

Will it help if people can complain? There is a clause that says a person  can be jailed if the complaint cannot be verified. This stops people from complaining.

How will that help? They will change the machine. They will get another machine.

You mean the erroneous vote can’t be reversed?

No, even if you can, it’s not about that one person’s vote. It is about the process. It’s not about the outcome, but the process.

What about EVMs being a safeguard against booth capture?

With technology, there is no question of booth capturing. All you have to do is make a video. Even a mobile phone can record everything. There can be no booth capture.

How do you see the BJP faring in this election?

The decisions of this government — both with respect to demonetization as well as GST — have actually destroyed the lives of millions of people. The farming community, the trading community, the NGOs and the small businesses. And the economy is not growing fast enough to cater to jobs for people coming out of Class 12 and colleges. The crisis in the farming sector, massive unemployment, destruction of people’s lives because of economic policies and knee-jerk decisions taken by the prime minister, that’s all led to a sense of desperation among a certain section of society.

And yet, they could land 220-230 seats and then cobble together another 30 to 40 seats.

I very much doubt it. They have no presence in states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. I doubt if they can make significant inroads into West Bengal or Orissa. Of the 25 seats in the northeast, I don’t think they are going to do very well. They had 25 out of 25 in Rajasthan, 26 out of 26 in Gujarat, 42 out of 48 in Maharashtra, 73 out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh. That’s the kind of majority they had (in 2014). This is going to be reduced at a minimum by half. There is no way that they can reach that figure.

There is apprehension about a coalition government being a hodge-podge.

It’s not a question of hodge-podge. All coalition governments have performed much better than governments which had absolute majority. Look at the history of India. The decision to liberalize the economy was taken by a minority government. The dream budget was passed in 1997 by a minority government. The entire revolution in the highway sector, the Indo-US Nuclear Deal,  the revolution of the telecom sector, the opening up of the airways, all happened in minority governments. The most epochal decisions have taken place in minority governments. 

What about BJP gaining from the Balakot strike and Masood Azhar being declared a terrorist by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The feedback that we are getting is that it is not making the kind of difference that would allow him to be back in government.  

Mr. Modi has reduced the status of the (Prime Minister’s) office with the kinds of things he has been saying. He says that Masood Azhar has been declared a terrorist by the UNSC, but we did that with Hafiz Saeed after the 2008 attack on Mumbai, but Pakistan continued with its terrorist activities. This is not going to stop terrorism. And we never said — look, what a great thing we’ve done that Hafiz Saeed has been declared a terrorist. Mr. (David Coleman) Headley was sent to prison for 35 years. We never went to the polls and said.... This is America and the international community putting pressure on China that they should not be a stumbling block on the way to him being declared a terrorist.

Glitching EVMs were being reported from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi and Rae Bareli, and West Bengal’s Howrah and Barrackpore because of which polling was delayed. Polling is underway in 51 seats across 7 states in phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections.

Several big names like Rahul Gandhi (profile),Smriti Irani (profile), Rajnath Singh (profile), Sonia Gandhi (profile) and Poonam Sinha (profile) are in the fray. As people cast their votes, we bring you live updates through the day — the good, the bad and the ugly.

Live Updates 

9:25 am: Grenade Attack In Pulwama Polling Booth

NDTV is reporting that there was a grenade attack in a polling booth in Pulwama. The report said no one was injured. Pulwama is part of the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency where the third leg of polling is taking place today. 

A grenade was lobbed towards Rohmoo polling station in Pulwama but there were no reports of any casualties in the the blast, a police official said. He said security forces have cordoned off the area. This was the first militant attack on a polling station in this Lok Sabha election in Jammu and Kashmir.

Polling in Jammu and Kashmir has been largely peaceful this year, however the voter turnout has been very low. 

9:16 am: Smriti Irani Lashes Out At Rahul, Priyanka

8:51 am: West Bengal BJP Leader Says He Was Attacked By ‘TMC Goons’

BJP leader in West Bengal, Arjun Singh has now claimed that he was attacked by Trinamool Congress workers. ANI quoted him as saying, “I was attacked by TMC goons who have been brought from outside. Those people were scaring away our voters. I am injured.”

West Bengal has seen violence in all the four phases of polling, with party leaders and workers being attacked. 

8:45 am: Modi Urges Young Voters To Turnout In Record Numbers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter on Monday morning to urge people to go out and vote in record numbers. Like every phase of polling, Modi especially urged young voters to turnout in record numbers. 

“A vote is the most effective way to enrich our democracy and contribute to India’s better future,” Modi said. 

8:42 am: EVM Glitches In Gonda And Lucknow

Now, EVM glitches are being reported from Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda and Lucknow. 

8:24 am: EVM Glitches In Amethi And Rae Bareli 

NDTV reported that EVMs in one polling booth in Amethi and two in Rae Bareli were malfunctioning. 

Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are seeking re-election in the two Lok Sabha constituencies, considered Congress strongholds. 

8:23 am: BSP Chief Mayawati Casts Vote From Lucknow

8:20 am Polling Delayed In Barrackpore

Polling has also been delayed in West Bengal’s Barrackpore. NDTV reported TMC sources as saying that there were glitches in polling booths in the area.

8:05 am: EVM, VVPATs Glitch In West Bengal’s Howrah

ANI reports that polling is yet to begin in booths 289/ 291/292 in Howrah because of EVM and VVPAT glitches. 

8:01 am: Rajnath Singh Casts His Vote

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh cast his vote in Lucknow this morning. When asked about the results, he told NDTV, “I can’t predict anything.”

7:25 am Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore Arrive In Jaipur Polling Booth

7:15 am: People Wait In Queues As Polling Begins

Former Minister Yashwant Sinha and his wife Nilima Sinha were seen at a polling booth in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh as polling began. 

7:10 am Polling Begins Across 51 Seats In 7 States

Polling beings across 51 Lok Sabah Seats in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

6:40 am: Garauli Village In Madhya Pradesh To Boycott Polls

Garauli village, in Madhya Pradesh, that goes to polls today, held protests on Sunday. The people of the village said they will boycott polls because of water scarcity in their village. They said people in their village have to walk 3-4 kilometers to get water. 

6:35 am: Sabar Tribe In Bandwan Area Of West Bengal To Boycott Polls

Even as the fifth phase of polling is yet to begin, the people of the Sabar tribe in West Bengal’s Purulia district have told ANI they want to boycott polls because of lack of basic amenities like electricity.  

6:32 am: Rahul, Sonia, Smriti Irani, Rajnath Singh In Fray

Polling will take place in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The BJP had won 39 of the 51 seats that go to the polls in this phase, the Congress only two seats and others 10 seats.

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Missing voters, faulty EVMs and clashed, especially in West Bengal, have marked the polls so far.

The Election Comission has set up 94,000 polling stations/booths and made elaborate security arrangements. In the fifth and smallest phase, total 8.75 crore voters will decide the fate of 674 candidates. With this phase, election will be over in 424 seats and polling in the remaining 118 seats will be held on May 12 and 19.

Uttar Pradesh

Fourteen seats in Uttar Pradesh — Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Amethi, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich, Kaiserganj, Gonda — go to polls in the fifth phase. The BJP had bagged 12 of these seats in 2014 with the Congress winning Rae Bareli and Amethi ― the only two constituencies where the Congress succeeded out of the 80 in the entire state.

All eyes will be on Amethi where Congress President Rahul Gandhi (profile) is contesting against Union Minister Smriti Irani (profile).  In Lucknow, Rajnath Singh (profile) is seeking a re-election and is fighting against Samajwadi Party’s debutant contestant Poonam Sinha (profile). Sonia Gandhi (profile) is contesting from Congress bastion Rae Bareli. She is pitted against Dinesh Pratap Singh, who recently joined the BJP after leaving the Congress. Sonia Gandhi has held this seat since 2004.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting on five seats ― Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Fatehpur and Kaisarganj. Its ally Samajwadi Party (SP) is fighting for seven seats ― Lucknow, Banda, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich and Gonda.

In Amethi and Rae Bareli, the SP-BSP alliance has not put up any candidate, leaving the two constituencies for the Congress.

Bihar

Five seats in Bihar — Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran, Hajipur — are going to polls. MoS Rajiv Pratap Rudy is taking on Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Chandrika Rai in Saran. In 2014 Rudy won the elections against Rabri Devi.

Hajipur and Saran are considered pocket boroughs of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of Ram Vilas Paswan and the RJD of Lalu Prasad respectively. The other three constituencies are Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Madhubani. 

Both Paswan, a Union minister, and Prasad, serving jail term in fodder scam cases, are not in the fray, but their parties are making all-out efforts to retain their influence.

West Bengal

In West Bengal,  seven seats — Bangaon, Barrackpore, Howrah, Uleberia, Sreerampur, Hooghly, Arambag — go to the polls. After the first four phases saw massive violence and clashes, the state police have been replaced with Central forces to protect polling booths. NDTV reported that the state police will not be allowed within 100 metres of the booths. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly said that the central forces were being used to rig polls in Bengal.

The Bangaon Lok Sabha seat will witness an interesting battle between sitting MP Mamata Bala Thakur of the Trinamool and her nephew Shantanu Thakur of the BJP. They hail from the numerically strong Matua community, which both parties are trying to woo.

Rajasthan

In Rajasthan, Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa, Nagaur go to polls on Monday. This is one of the states where Congress left the BJP in assembly elections late last year. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said ahead of polling day, “This Modi government won’t return. That is a fact. He only wants to win the election in the name of Army, religion [Hindutva] and nationalism,” Gehlot said.

Two former Olympians Rajyawardhan Rathore (BJP) and Krishna Poonia (Congress) will contest against each other in the Jaipur Rural seat. Rathore is a Union minister.

In Bikaner, Union minister and former IAS officer Arjun Ram Meghwal (BJP) is facing a tough fight from his cousin and Congress candidate Madangopal Meghwal, a former IPS officer. Two seers — Sumedhanand Saraswati and Baba Balaknath — are contesting the polls from Sikar and Alwar respectively.

J&K

Two seats in Jammu and Kashmir go to the polls — Anantnag and Ladakh. This time, Shopian and Pulwama districts will go to polls. Pulwama has been the centre of trouble after the attack on the CRPF convoy that killed 44 jawans. Kashmir has seen low voter turnout in the first five phases.

Former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is pitted against state Congress president GA Mir in Anantnag  where polling is being held in three phases due to security reasons.

In Ladakh, there are four candidates in the fray — Tsering Namgyal of the BJP, Rigzin Spalbar of the Congress and two Independents.

Jharkhand

In Jharkhand Kodarma, Ranchi, Khunti, Hazaribagh go to polls. It’s an interesting battle in Kodarma where the first chief minister of the state and chief of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) Babulal Marandi is seeking a fourth term. He is contesting against former Jharkhand RJD chief Annapurna Devi, who joined the BJP before the elections.

In Hazaribagh, Koderma, Ranchi and Khunti, polling will be held between 7 am and 4 pm. Voting ends two hours before the scheduled end in other constituencies due to security reasons as some areas are affected by Left-Wing Extremism. 

While Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha (BJP) is seeking re-election from Hazaribag, former chief minister and BJP candidate Arjun Munda is taking on Kalicharan Munda of the Congress in the Khunti constituency.

Madhya Pradesh

Seven Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad, Betul, will vote in phase five.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, May 5 (Reuters) ― Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah on Sunday extended a moratorium on the death penalty to incoming legislation prohibiting gay sex, seeking to temper a global backlash led by celebrities such as George Clooney and Elton John.

The small Southeast Asian country sparked an outcry when it rolled out its interpretation of Islamic laws, or sharia, on April 3, punishing sodomy, adultery and rape with death, including by stoning.

Brunei has consistently defended its right to implement the laws, elements of which were first adopted in 2014 and which have been rolled out in phases since then.

However, in a rare response to criticism aimed at the oil-rich state, the sultan said the death penalty would not be imposed in the implementation of the Syariah Penal Code Order (SPCO).

Some crimes already command the death penalty in Brunei, including premeditated murder and drug trafficking, but no executions have been carried out since the 1990s.

“I am aware that there are many questions and misperceptions with regard to the implementation of the SPCO. However, we believe that once these have been cleared, the merit of the law will be evident,” the sultan said in a speech ahead of the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

“As evident for more than two decades, we have practiced a de facto moratorium on the execution of death penalty for cases under the common law. This will also be applied to cases under the SPCO which provides a wider scope for remission.”

The vastly wealthy sultan, who once piloted his own 747 airliner to meet former U.S. president Barack Obama, often faces criticism from activists who view his absolute monarchy as despotic, but it is unusual for him to respond.

The sultan’s office released an official English translation of his speech, which is not common practice.

“Both the common law and the Syariah law aim to ensure peace and harmony of the country,” he said.

“They are also crucial in protecting the morality and decency of the country as well as the privacy of individuals.”

The law’s implementation, which the United Nations condemned, prompted celebrities and rights groups to seek a boycott on hotels owned by the sultan, including the Dorchester in London and the Beverley Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.

Several multinational companies have since put a ban on staff using the sultan’s hotels, while some travel companies have stopped promoting Brunei as a tourist destination.

(Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Dale Hudson)

MOSCOW — Forty-one people on board a Russian Aeroflot passenger plane were killed on Sunday, including two children, after the aircraft caught fire as it made a bumpy emergency landing at a Moscow airport, Russian investigators said.

Television footage showed the Sukhoi Superjet 100 crash bouncing along the tarmac at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport before the rear part of the plane suddenly burst into flames.

Many passengers on board SU 1492 then escaped via the plane’s emergency slides that inflated after the hard landing.

The plane, which had been flying from Moscow to the northern Russian city of Murmansk, had been carrying 73 passengers and five crew members, Russia’s aviation watchdog said.

Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, said in a statement that only 37 out of 78 people on board had survived, meaning 41 people had lost their lives.

No official cause has been given for the disaster.

The Investigative Committee said it had opened an investigation and was looking into whether the pilots had breached air safety rules.

Some passengers blamed bad weather and lightning.

“We took off and then lightning struck the plane,” the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily cited one surviving passenger, Pyotr Egorov, as saying.

“The plane turned back and there was a hard landing. We were so scared, we almost lost consciousness. The plane jumped down the landing strip like a grasshopper and then caught fire on the ground.”

State TV broadcast mobile phone footage shot by another passenger in which people could be heard screaming.

President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev expressed their condolences and ordered investigators to establish what had happened.

The Interfax news agency cited an unnamed “informed source” as saying the evacuation of the plane had been delayed by some passengers insisting on collecting their hand luggage first.

Russian news agencies reported that injured passengers were being treated in hospitals.

DEBRIS IN THE ENGINES

The Flightradar24 tracking service showed that the plane had circled twice over Moscow before making an emergency landing after just under 30 minutes in the air.

The plane’s under-carriage gave way on impact and its engines caught fire.

Interfax cited a source as saying the plane had only succeeded making an emergency landing on the second attempt and that some of the aircraft’s systems had then failed.

The emergency landing was so hard that debris had found its way into the engines, sparking a fire that swiftly engulfed the rear of the fuselage, the same source said.

Russian investigators said they were looking into various versions.

Russian news agencies reported that the plane had been produced in 2017 and had been serviced as recently as April this year.

Aeroflot has long shaken off its troubled post-Soviet safety record and now has one of the world’s most modern fleets on international routes where it relies on Boeing and Airbus aircraft.

Russian officials are keen for Aeroflot to buy more Sukhoi Superjets, a regional airliner, for domestic flights to support the country’s fledgling civil aircraft industry. The plane is built in Russia’s Far East.

A Sukhoi Superjet crashed in Indonesia in 2012, killing all 45 people on board in an accident blamed on human error.

The Superjet entered service in 2011 and was the first new passenger jet developed in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

It has been hit, however, by sporadic concerns over safety and reliability, including a December 2016 grounding after a defect was discovered in an aircraft’s tail section.

Russian officials said on Sunday it was premature to talk of grounding the Sukhoi Superjet for now. The plane is predominantly used by Russian airlines like Aeroflot, but is also used by a few other foreign operators, including a low-cost Mexican airline.

Dozens of flights at Sheremetyevo were delayed because of the disaster.

In just 15 days’ time, “Game of Thrones” will be over. Much like men, all premium video content must die.

Luckily, no one would simply walk away from the biggest TV show in the world, and we know to expect (at least) one spinoff ― or “successor show,” as author George R.R. Martin prefers to say ― to hit HBO in the next couple of years. Programming president Casey Bloys said the plan is to develop several options and hope one of them lives up to the high bar set by “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

Martin, who is ostensibly working on finishing the “Song of Ice and Fire” book series that begat “Game of Thrones,” updated fans Saturday via his personal blog.

“We have had five different GAME OF THRONES successor shows in development (I mislike the term ‘spinoffs’) at HBO, and three of them are still moving forward nicely,” Martin wrote.

He added: “The one I am not supposed to call THE LONG NIGHT will be shooting later this year, and two other shows remain in the script stage, but are edging closer. What are they about? I cannot say. But maybe some of you should pick up a copy of FIRE & BLOOD and come up with your own theories.”

Martin published “Fire & Blood,” a history of Westeros, the fictional setting of “Game of Thrones,” last year. (He went on to voice support for “Veep” and “Gentleman Jack” on HBO along with former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 candidacy.)

Details on the successors are extremely scarce, but we know they are all prequels and will not involve any of the characters we’ve met in “Game of Thrones.” The biggest stars, too, are not attached to any of the projects, which will feature an ensemble cast of “strong” female and male characters.

Variety reported back in October that Naomi Watts is set to star in the one Martin is not supposed to call “The Long Night,” which will start shooting soon. Watts’ character is “a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret” in the series, which chronicles the fictional world’s first clash with the White Walkers thousands of years before the events of “Game of Thrones.”

Louis C.K., the disgraced comedian who has admitted to sexual harassment and misconduct, is going to greater lengths to ensure no one records material from his standup gigs without his permission.

Though some comedy clubs continue to book C.K., the comedian doesn’t post tour dates ahead of time. Writer James Shotwell shared a copyright notice that a club in Minneapolis sent out reminding audience members they cannot record, use or distribute any of C.K.’s material without his prior written approval.

The irony of the notice was not lost on model and “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi.

Re-tweeting his red-letted warning, Lakshmi shot back, “Oh! So now Louis CK cares about consent.”

The comedian has been attempting to make a comeback after five women said they had been subjected to C.K.’s predatory behavior in a November 2017 New York Times piece. Women accused C.K. of exposing himself and masturbating in front of them. Shortly after the article ran, the comedian said in a statement, “The stories are true.”

“The power I had over these women is that they admired me,” he said. “And I wielded that power irresponsibly.”

During a show last January, however, C.K. didn’t show that he’d learned much, joking about his history of harassment before a crowd that gave him a standing ovation.

The copyright notice could help C.K. ward off leaks of his performances like the one that occurred in December when footage surfaced online of him mocking survivors of last year’s Parkland, Florida, school shooting massacre, in which 17 people were killed.

There’s no debate to be had here: spoilers suck.

For TV and film fans, there is nothing worse than looking forward to a series finale, new release or key episode, only to have someone (be it a friend or Twitter user) reveal what happens. 

And in this day and age – thanks to streaming services, midnight releases and Twitter trends – it’s hard to both avoid spoilers and work out when it’s ok to discuss things. But fear not.

Here’s our guide on how to avoid screwing it up... 

Let’s start with muting on Twitter

Facebook is a wasteland when it comes to spoilers, thanks to people you went to school with still insisting status updates are a thing. If you’re trying to dodge spoilers, avoid Facebook altogether. All you’ll miss is chain posts from older relatives and baby pictures from everyone else anyway.

When it comes to Twitter, if you really can’t stay away then there are still options: mute, mute, mute and mute again. In the settings section, you can block entire words, hashtags or phrases from your timeline – here’s a handy guide on how to do just that.

Obviously, this isn’t totally foolproof though.

For a start, things like Game Of Thrones and Avengers (more on them later) have tens of characters and muting all of their names would be a stretch. It’s also perfectly possible that someone could craft an offhand tweet and attach an image that gives the game away.

Know your Subreddits

If you’re someone who loves talking about TV shows almost (or even more) as much as you love watching them, you should be on Reddit. The concept is pretty simple, there are subreddits for basically every television show/film/franchise on the planet – and you’re less likely to encounter unwanted spoilers than on Twitter.

Simply go to the homepage and use the search bar at the top to find the page for your show of choice and discuss away. (Here are the ones for Game Of Thrones and Drag Race to get you started.)

Each subreddit is a discussion homepage and when new seasons are upcoming and airing, moderators will run a pretty tight ship on spoilers. Any posts containing them will be clearly marked with the main images hidden.

Once you’ve seen the relevant episode, feel free to dive in and discuss away. Spoiler-heavy discussions are usually kept on subreddits of their own so if you want to know who’s going to be on Drag Race UK, look elsewhere on the site.

The things that are always off-limits:

• Facebook statuses
• Groupchat messages that aren’t preceded by a courtesy to check everyone is watching
• Detailed blow-by-blow accounts on Twitter – they’re spoilers and boring.

But what about the rest of it? Twitter discussions and work canteen chats? One thing that will help us all is agreeing on when it’s ok to start talking about crucial moments.

Let’s get that straight once and for all – with a little help from some of the shows dominating our TV viewing this year…

The newly-official rules on… Game Of Thrones

This is going to be a running theme here but the best way to avoid Game Of Thrones season eight spoilers is to wreck your sleeping pattern and watch the episode when it’s simulcast in the UK and US at 2am our time. Sorry, but it’s true.

However if you’re one of these people, the fact you stayed up does not mean it’s ok for you discuss the twists and deaths as though everyone has seen it.

Monday daytime is off-limits entirely: There will be no nudges to co-workers, or posts in group WhatsApps, about “that sword being important” or “that insane death” unless you are 100% certain they’ve seen it.

The verdict: When the 9pm airing of each episode rolls around, we reckon tweeting along is fine and sharing articles containing spoilers is also ok.

Obviously, people have jobs and lives beyond television though, so this green light doesn’t mean it’s time for reckless abandon. We’re implementing a grace period of one day to account for anyone who simply cannot shift that family meal. From Wednesday morning though, it’s their problem, not yours (sorry).

The same rules apply to: Other weekly, hit shows. If they’re big (we’re talking Line Of Duty, Bodyguard, Broadchurch levels) then watching with the rest of the nation is part of the fun, so tune in and tweet… but remember the blow-by-blow accounts are boring and banned.

We’re also applying similar rules to RuPaul’s Drag Race, which airs in the US on Thursdays, before arriving on Netflix each Friday. Given the weekend, two days should be enough, so the cut-off here is Sunday evening.

The newly-official rules on… Love Island

This is far less complex (phew). Love Island airs every day and the twists and turns (no, we’re still not over Josh leaving Georgia for Kaz) arrive thick and fast. If you miss an episode, there’s literally no time to catch up so don’t expect everyone to wait for you.

The verdict:The second it airs, you’re good to head online, post in groups and shout twists from the rooftops. If anything, info on Love Island being shared will just help those of us who couldn’t tune in.

The same rules apply to: Every other reality show that airs on multiple nights a week. 

The newly-official rules on… Killing Eve

The fact Killing Eve series two is airing in the US right now, while it doesn’t even have a start date here in the UK, is a source of never ending frustration for many fans.

It’s obviously not ok (or legal) but it is possible to take matters into your own hands and see the episode via illegitimate means online. It’s also possible to head over to American entertainment websites and read breakdowns of the action. If you do this, you do so at your own risk – both when it comes to, y’know, the law, and the fact you might discover a twist so juicy you can barely contain yourself.

The verdict: Sorry, but there’s no discussing this until it airs in the UK – no matter how explosive the action is.

The same rules apply to: All other shows that air in the States (or elsewhere) months before they arrive here.

The newly-official rules on… Blockbuster films 

This is a slightly more complex issue thanks to the fact films obviously do not air as TV shows do, but we’re going to make it simple. 

When is it ok to assume everyone has seen it? The short answer is: Just don’t. It’s not worth it. 

Granted, if you’re excited for something like the latest Avengers then you’ll probably see it on the opening weekend, but this isn’t always possible. Also the cinema is seriously expensive and sometimes people wait to see movies with pals/loved ones. 

The verdict: Look – we still wouldn’t feel comfortable tweeting that [REDACTED] died in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so don’t share film spoilers at all. Ever.