Nepal, March 18 -- With around 968 million people registered to vote, India's upcoming general election (to be held over several weeks in April and May) will be the largest democratic exercise in human history. Yet hovering over the occasion are questions about the future of Indian democracy itself.

After a decade of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holding power, the country's democratic culture and institutions have been substantially eroded. BJP rule has featured frequent threats to dissent and a cultural shift away from pluralism. Civil liberties and press freedoms have visibly come under strain, with the party repressing and intimidating political opponents, student protestors, media organisations, i...