Time for the face-off

Televised debates between candidates is a good idea

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had little trouble not responding to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s challenge for a debate with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief ministerial candidate ahead of the Assembly elections. Despite the torrent of impassioned rhetoric that accompanies every election, Indian electoral traditions have not adopted this progressive tool of modern democracy. But as the claims and counterclaims become more fabulist and toxic, the next election could be a good time to start.

The widely televised American presidential debates are the best known of this tradition but several others also conduct leaders’ debates, some of them with political