Best of BS Opinion: US' election system, privatisation of discoms, and more

Here's a selection of Business Standard opinion pieces for the day

Contrary to the opinion polls predicting a Joe Biden victory, the US elections are too close to call. This is not the first time this has happened in the past two decades and the principal problem lies in an electoral system that is excessively decentralised and prey to arbitrary state rules. The result, as the lead edit says, is that “America’s claim to leadership of the democratic world can hardly hold up given its elections are unreliable indicators of the political will, are in danger of being ignored by unelected judges and incumbents, and are so slow, complex and inefficient.” Read it here. Other opinion examines Arnab Goswami’s shock arrest, the downsides of spectrum auctions and power reforms. Kanika Datta sums up the views

The arrest of Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami is a travesty of justice, though the BJP top leadership’s condemnation of it in the name of freedom of speech is no less disingenuous, says the second edit. Read it here

Shyam Ponappa tells a cautionary tale about spectrum auctions in the US to make the point that service delivery can be lost in pursuing this mode of resource distribution. Read it here

The ministry of power is setting the stage for much-needed investments and efficiencies into the sector through the privatisation of discoms with a framework in the form of a draft Standard Bidding Document (SBD). Vinayak Chatterjee assesses this first useful step in power reforms here

QUOTE OF THE DAY

‘So what in the name of terminal insanity does happen now?

Guardian columnist Marina Hyde on the US elections