The context in which the EC functions has seen a transformation in more ways than one between 1990 and 2019. The purpose of this chapter is to give a glimpse into these changes to situate the EC within them and highlight how this institution has been an agent of a more predictable and procedural praxis within a socially and politically changing terrain beset by constant activity and restlessness. The 1990s were a time when the overarching presence of the INC weakened as also the numerical dominance of a single party in the parliament, and one saw the rise of minority and coalition governments. This was also a period of economic liberalisation, the rise of Hindutva and the political ascendence of the socially disadvantaged. The decade of the 2000s saw the consolidation of some of these trends in an era of growing accessibility to technology. After 2014, politics in India seemed to have moved again in the one-party dominant direction with a firmer executive control.

A ‘Young’ and Tech-Savvy India

The India between 1990 and 2019 (the period of this study) has seen many crucial changes. This is an India that has become younger over the years. According to the 2001 census, the age group between 15 and 24 years was 18.4 per cent of India's population (Census of India, 2001). By the 2011 census, this number – that is, of people between the ages of 15 and 24 years – rose to 19.2 per cent (Census of India and United Nations Population Fund [UNFPA], 2014: 7). In 2017, more than half the population was below 25 years of age, and two-thirds less than 35 years (Sharma, 2017). The proportion of ‘economically active population (15–59 years) has increased from 53.4 to 56.3 percent during 1971 to 1981 and 57.7 to 62.5 per cent during 1991 to 2011’ (Census of India, 2011: 7). With the liberalisation of the economy since 1991, even the middle class has seen a phenomenal growth – from less than 1 per cent of India's population in the 1990s to about 5 per cent in 2004 (A. Roy, 2018: 33).