With terrifying standards in everything from personal hygiene to financial probity, Indian democracy is gravely imperilled. But is that the debate you hear? Is that what resonates across campaign speeches? Assailed by the question of who are we to vote for, we are forgetting the other vital question-what are we to vote for?

This book is a shout-out, a call to action to talk about the things that matter-or should matter to most of us as citizens-from how much time the Lok Sabha wastes during sessions to how much MPs are worth and how many of them hold criminal records. Are our MPs 'too far away'? After all, if a democracy has to work, the agenda needs to be set by voters as much as by political parties.