The results of the 2014 elections are out. BJP and NDA were expected to do good and come out as claimants to form the next government. However the results have been highly favourable to them. BJP has on its own has crossed the 272 seats halfway mark and along with its allies the NDA has got 337 seats. The Congress and some regional parties have been decimated to historical lows.
Even the pollsters could not gauge this consolidated mood of the voters across the country. What are the issues on which the voters took their voting decision and the conclusions that can be drawn from the people's verdict. Some of them are as follows :
1. India is not up for grabs by the scions of a few dynasties:
A good number of sons and daughters of dynasty driven politicians have lost the elections this time. Most prominent is Dr Farooq Abdullah, son of Sheikh Abdullah and father of Omar Abdullah, present CM of J&K, who lost from Srinagar. Mr Ajit Singh, outgoing Minister of Civil Aviation and his son, both lost from their constituencies in UP. Rabri Devi wife of Lalu Prasad and their daughter Misa have both lost in Bihar. Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot, Priya Dutt, Sandeep Dikshit, all progenies of political parents, have been defeated. But a few have also been elected like Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar, the daughter in law of Punjab CM,and Rahul Gandhi from Amethi. But for first time the message is loud and clear, family is no longer a passport to Parliament. Come through the ranks and demonstrate merit. This augurs good for future.
2. Development is the agenda:
There were attempts to polarize voters by most of the political parties, on issues of religion, cast, region etc. But the voters saw through the game. Unlike in the past, these divisive issues were cast aside and in fact they seem to have united voters to vote against such parties preaching them. The BSP in UP has not got a single seat, the SP is reduced to five, Nitish Kumar's party managed to get only two seats and so on. The electorate has shown that they are going to vote for a candidate or a party who have a proven record of developmental activities in their States. People want good roads, jobs, 24 hour power supply, all round economic development and not the endless debates on divisive issues.
3. Corruption will not be tolerated:
The DMK party in Tamil Nadu has drawn a blank. All its candidates lost. It is well known that some of its members are accused in corruption cases which have also adversely affected the Congress all over the country. The emergence of corruption scams in the last five years has motivated the voters to vote out the ruling coalition at the Center. This is a healthy sign and one hopes this ire of voters is taken into account by those in the incoming government. The parties like BSP and SP which gave outside support to UPA have been punished by the voters.
4. High Prices and Inflation:
The results have shown that a ruling party which cannot control high inflation and prices has no right to expect voters support for another term. By all accounts the supply side of food items in the country is adequate, but still prices are ruling high. The government seems helpless at taking the required administrative steps between the grower and the consumer, which will eliminate manipulated and artificial high prices. The outgoing government seemed to lack the will to take hard decisions on this front. The consumers have been forced to pay high prices for food items which has eroded their savings. The constant high interest rates maintained by RBI also failed to contain inflation. That is because the reasons causing high inflation and prices are not economical but manipulated by vested interests. The dismal failure of the government on these fronts translated votes going away from it by the millions.
5. Leadership:
The quality of leaders and leadership styles were also an important parameter considered by voters in this election. The leader became more important than the party. After nearly thirty years voters were attracted to a particular leader rather than his party. The successful leader proved himself right in achieving the goals he had set for himself, one of which was to aim for getting 272+ seats in the Lok Sabha. His aggressive style gave indications of a decisive leader. The planning of his punishing schedules of addressing 4-5 public meetings daily demonstrated a high degree of stamina and the backing by excellent team work and collection of dedicated volunteers all across the country. BJP's PM nominee had risen from very humble beginnings in life. He had also risen through the ranks within his party. He had thus shown the necessary abilities of leadership and possessed the necessary experience for the top post. The alternative to him was seen as someone born with a silver spoon who had never held any post in the government. He was where he was because of his birth in the first family of the Congress and lacked the experience and aggression needed to counter his fiery opponent. Both had different leadership styles and the voters naturally voted for the one with experience as they felt he had earned their confidence with his proven style and achievements as CM in his home state for three continuous terms.
6. Hope vs Entitlements:
The BJP was offering voters hope of doing things in a new way. It was creating in them a desire for change. It was promoting development as a major issue. It was promising jobs, reduction in inflation and prices. It was promising a turn around in the Indian economy which would give a host of opportunities to the young. The Congress was offering multiple entitlements in form of various rights like right to food, right to education, right to work etc and was talking of giving doles to the poor. However in a young country like India today, all classes of society want equal opportunities to make their careers and life. They do not want doles. They want education and jobs. Rest will follow. They naturally gravitated towards the party that offered hope and went away from a party which they felt kept them on doles and thus tolerated their poverty. It was an aspirational society that was voting.
7. Communication with Voters:
The use of social media by BJP was phenomenal. Their PM nominee was hyper active on Facebook, Twitter, g+ etc forums. It is reported that he is the sixth most followed leader on Twitter with his handle having more than 4.2 million followers and it is growing at the rate of nearly 12% monthly. Similarly on Facebook he is the second most popular politician after US President and has more than 11 million followers. As against this there was negligible presence of leaders of other parties on the social media forums. Congress was strangely almost absent and only in the last phase it showed some presence on Facebook. Too little too late. BJP scored heavily on this count and greatly benefited in form of votes. The connection with young voters will stay for a long time. BJP very effectively used these forums to connect with the younger voters and kept them informed.
The above are some points on which the Indian voters made their decision to vote. It is clear that BJP succeeded far more than Congress and managed to get a majority on its own bringing to an end the era of coalition governments at the Center. The Congress totally failed to gauge the mood of the voters and has paid the price by getting the lowest number of seats in its history in the Parliament. Many regional parties and the year old AAP were almost decimated. It was clear that the voters were fed up of corruption and were looking for change. We can now hopefully look forward to a stable government which one expects to be able to fill many of the raised high expectations.
I welcome Our new PM of India - Mr. Narendra Modi. I think after a very long time, India got the talent in politics and that at the post of PM. This for the first time in the PM elections that a PM won with a drastic majority. BJP sweep almost all the seats from many of the states leaving behind some. He was born on 17 September, 1950 in a very poor family. But, then, he became a politician and was leading the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). Modi is the first prime minister of India who has born after the country,s independence. He has been the Chief Minister of Gujarat for many years and worked a lot for making a vibrant Gujatrat.
Modi was the key to the success for the BJP in the successful elections held in the year 1995 and 1998 in Gujarat. Also, he was the major successful figure in the 2009 elections too. In the year 2001, Modi became the Chief Minister of Gujarat for the first time and then, agter his resignation, he again became the chief minister of Gujarat in 2007. He became the longest serving chief minister in the Gujarat's history ever. He is currently serving the fourth consecutive term as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He is a Hindu Nationalist and was very much credited for his economic policies as his policies created a high rate of economic rate in Gujarat and this is what now India is expecting from our new Prime Minister. Also, he was very much criticised after the 2002 Gujarat Godhra roits both nationally and internationally and was not given the visa for going to America. It was said that he did injustice to Muslim community and muslims hated him. But now this statement is proved wrong as most of the muslims gave vote to Modi as their PM and in Gujarat, he won all the 26 seats. Also, the celebrating people in Gujarat are the Muslims.
Godhra roits 2002
On 27th February, 2002; a train having more than hundred passengers including large number of Hindus, was burnt near Godhra around 60 people. The rumour spread that the the following incident was carried out by the muslims and then, the anti - muslim violence was spread out throughout the state. Many people around 900 to over 2000 were killed in tis and more than thousand people were injured badly. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time and he imposed curfew in major cities, issued shoot - at - sight orderss and called the army to prevent the violence. All human rights organisations and the opposition parties opposed Modi for his conduct and was criticised for inflaming the violence. In April 2009, the Supreme Court appointed a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to inquire into the Gujarat Government and Modi's role in the communal violence. In 2010, SIT reported in the supreme court that they didn't found any substantial evidence aganist Modi in the communal violence.
Expectations from Modi
Despite of the repoert of SIT, Modi has been criticised very much in 2002 and till date but whatever he did for Gujarat made him the real hero of Gujarat and now the love and respect of the whole public of India can been by Modi in this PM elections of 2014. India expect a lot and a lot many changes in India from Modi and we expect that now there will be no problems of necessary nees such as 24 hours of electicity, pure drinking water and proper hygeineic food to all. Also, there will be a great development in the economic sector of India and now, hopefuuly, the whole InANTdia will be called as the "VIBRANT INDIA'.
On May 16th, the country will come to know which combination will form the next government in Delhi. Whosoever forms it, the expectation of the people and the challenges to fulfill them will be the same. Some of these challenges and expectation are going to be as follows :
1. Control Inflation : Since many years now the inflation has been remaining very much on the higher side, even crossing into double digits. Sector wise inflation in food items has continuously remained high. Inflation eats into savings and it hurts the lower middle class and below sections of the population the most. It is eroding in nature. If UPA is voted back to power, not much change in policy can be expected. As is widely believed, Congress governments operate at high levels of inflation because of their subsidy policies. If NDA comes to power it will be a real challenge for them to lower inflation. One definition of inflation is too much money chasing too few goods. Will they reduce money supply by increasing interest rates or resort to larger imports to improve supply side. While the former is restrictive in nature the latter will deplete our foreign exchange reserves faster. Creation of assets to increase supply is a time consuming activity. It will therefore be very keenly watched what will the new government do tame inflation.
2. Reduce Prices : In most surveys, respondents have placed prevailing high prices especially of essential items like food items, petrol,diesel etc as the factor affecting the most their quality of life. In a free market economy, prices are determined by the gap between supply and demand of a commodity. The wider it is, the higher will the prices be and vice versa. Can the government dictate prices in a free economy. It normally cannot. So what steps will the new government take to ensure reduction in prices. It can take some administrative steps like freeing the farmers from having to compulsorily sell through the Agriculture Produce Market Centers (APMC) which can lead to increased competition for their produce and help lower prices. Governments have resorted to announcing increased Minimum Support Prices (MSP) to save farmers from exploitation by private purchasing cartels. It is simply not going to be easy to take official steps to effect reduction in prices, but that is the challenge, as some parties have made high prices a plank on which they have sought votes from people.
3. Women Safety : This has rightly become a highly debated issue, especially the considerably increased incidence of brutal rapes in many parts of the country. Political parties have raised it repeatedly to score brownie points. The example of Gujarat is often given by the chief representative of a particular party. It is true that during the festival of Navratri during October in Gujarat, it is a common sight to see young girls moving on two wheelers late in the night in a safe manner. But what role has the government in this. It is because people are observing high character without any official pressure which ensures the safety of women in Gujarat. It will be a challenge in front of the new government to announce and take steps which will increase women's safety across the country.
4. Current Account Deficit (CAD) : The CAD has always been negative in India's international trade. Imports have always been higher than exports, putting stress on the rupee and causing it to devalue against the dollar, to maintain competitiveness. The outgoing government has drastically reduced the import of gold and thereby brought CAD to lower levels than before. But if BJP, a party supported by traders comes to power. can they continue with such low gold imports. If rupee appreciates, then the IT companies earnings will go down. If rupee devalues further then imports will become costlier. If gold imports are allowed to the tune of 900 tons per year at a cost of $ 50-55 billion then CAD will go up ,putting pressure on the rupee value against the dollar. With the economies of Western countries not showing any improvement,exports are going to remain stuck at $ 310- 325 billion range. It will be a challenge for the new government on the international trade front. The widening negative balance of payment with China is another challenge waiting for concrete action.
5. Communal harmony : This election has seen lot of debate on secularism versus communalism. There have been both covert and overt attempts at voters polarization, which has succeeded at some places. This is not at all desirable. All attempts to divide society on religion, caste, creed or region basis needs to be severely dealt with. It will be expected from the new government to instill confidence in such sections of society who feel they have been unnecessarily targeted for sake of votes. Development has to be uniformly spread. The challenge on this front is a daunting one and will the new government take it seriously will be anxiously watched.
6. FDI in Retail : Although the UPA government has passed legislation to allow FDI in retail, but with concurrence of individual states, so far there has been no investment. The BJP has officially stated that it is against this type of FDI. India needs injection of capital for boosting growth and FDI in retail is one such measure. There will be tremendous pressure on BJP led government to review its stand. Equally If UPA comes to power, it will need all its skills to lure foreign retail chains to invest in India. Also FDI in Insurance and other sectors is needed to boost the flow of much needed capital. So the new government will have to implement reforms in this area.
7. GDP growth rate : The GDP growth rate has come down to 4.5 - 5% from a high of 8 - 9% couple of years back. This has resulted in the economy slowing down. This has also resulted in overall demand going down leading to poor industrial growth rates. Associated with it are host of other negative aspects like increased unemployment, lower rate of savings, limited fresh investments, etc which has led to a gloomy economic climate. The new government will have to come out with fiscal and industrial policies which will lead to a boost in economic growth. It is not going to be an easy task and that is going to be the challenge.
8. Relations with Neighbouring Countries : Our relations with Pakistan are going to come under stress once American troops depart from Afghanistan. The terrorists are going to divert their attention towards Kashmir and Pakistan as usual will deny but slyly support them. Our relations with Sri Lanka have taken a beating due to Tamil Nadu parties forcing GOI to take such steps which have gone against that country in world forums. With China our border dispute is still unresolved despite growing trade between the two. With Bangladesh also we have the problem of sharing of Teesta waters which could not be resolved because of stiff opposition by Mamata Bannerji. It is going to be watched with considerable interest how the new government moves to improve its ties with our neighobours.
The above are some areas which will require attention from the new government that will take shape any time after May 16,2014.
The 2014 general elections are coming to an end. On May 16, we shall come to know whose efforts have been rewarded. But by all standards, this has been an election which has redefined how low the politicians can stoop to hit their counterparts. Instead of debates what we have seen is leaders heaping abuse on each other. It seems that they are taking part in a no holds barred contest, where the dirtier the muck the better it is.
This election has seen the 24x7 electronic media lap up all the low barbs by the leaders. They have magnified these into endless debates, repeatedly telecast to garner as many TRP's as possible. Social media has also been skillfully manipulated to further the low agendas set by some leaders and parties.
In past elections also, there have been personal attacks, but rarely below the belt. Leaders respected the private life of opponents and desisted from mentioning or commenting on them. However this time around this self imposed code of good behaviour has been given a go bye. Another introduction has been name calling which have been used as a force multiplier by social media.
Another phenomenon has been the open threats of different types to those who will oppose a particular leader or ideology, including deportation to a neighbouring country not well deposed to India. Another leader said supporters of a particular leader should be drowned in the sea. Someone said, the time for revenge has come and yet someone said that, those who liberated Kargil were of a particular community only. Every low barb has to be replied by a still lower barb.
It is said, the fact that elections are spread over nine phases makes it difficult for the leaders to sustain the voters attention. The fatigued politicians have to come up with new issues and the easiest is raking up of personal issues. The media also wants masala and it is well known that negative news sells far more than positive news.
Would a debate on how to increase India's GDP be more interesting or discussion on how a leader of a certain party called the leader of another party a particular variety of four legged creature. How many viewers would watch full time a discussion on need to improve India's social parameters. But the same viewers would sit throughout if the debate were on the marriage status of a particular leader. Therefore the media especially the electronic one wants the leaders to say nasty things so that they can run endless stories on it.
The issue of secularism and communalism was mercilessly flogged for some weeks before it ran out of steam. At the end we were not sure who was secular and who was communal. Sensing this lack of attention, the leaders started attacking their rivals on personal issues. This has sustained attention and is the current flavour. A leader makes the personal attack leaving the attacked leader no option but to respond in a like manner.
No issue is left out. Caste, creed, religion, region, language, nationality, funding, length of processions, number of vehicles, are all constantly attacked in the choicest of words. Name calling and personal attacks have been liberally used in these elections.
Another technique has been perfected. First abuse a leader or a party or an institution. Then when asked for a clarification begin by saying that " -- let me tell you I have the highest regard for the ---- and start repeating the abuse. Everyday almost every one worth his political salt is running to the Election Commission with a complaint. The EC mulls over them and either issues a stern warning or asks for an FIR to be registered. This does not deter the erring politicians from continuing their negative tirade. In fact many leaders have even challenged the EC to take action against themselves.
In this age of connectivity, the politicians seem to think that speaking dirty is one way of remaining in news, as it will be picked up by the TV channels and telecast repeatedly. Another low comment will be made for the next day. The intention is to remain in the viewers' focus even if it is for negative remarks.
It is good that the elections are coming to an end. One hopes people will force the leaders to retrospect about the new low the campaigning this time has touched. Must votes be got by polarizing and dividing or appealing to the voters on developmental issues. Already the image of the politicians is at a nadir and they must now start improving it.
If you ask an average Indian voter about the state of the nation, rarely you will get an answer that it is in good health. If you persist, the voter will reel out a list of demands which have never been fulfilled. The standard response is that, they see the politicians only during election times and not in between. A very large number of voters either do not know the name of their MP or MLA and may have never seen them. The only participation of the voters is when they go to cast their votes.
In spite of such indifference, Indians are coming out to vote in larger numbers. In many constituencies voter turn out it is between 80 - 90% and 70-75% is now becoming the norm. If voters are not satisfied why do they go out and vote? Boycotting of elections is a rare phenomenon.
In the first three general elections after independence, voters voted with hope and aspirations of electing a government which was formed by Indians and reflected the will of Indians as against the pre-independence foreign rule. The towering personality of Jawaharlal Nehru inspired confidence among the voters till 1962 Indo-China conflict created a dent. Congress was the dominant party and formed government on its own majority. The country saw progress in the sense that groundwork was laid for future in heavy industries, power generation, education, health etc. Voters were patient as they acknowledged the fact that with limited fiscal resources governments had to be given time to perform. The voters were voting for consolidation of the democratic process and gave landslide victories to the Congress party under whose leadership India had also won its freedom.
The India-Pakistan war of 1965 was to effectively restore confidence in a shamed nation after the 1962 China war. Also Nehru had passed away in 1964 and Shastri suddenly died in Tashkent in 1966. Indira's rise to the PM's post was resented by many elder leaders within the Congress. In the 1967, fourth general elections, Congress for the first time won with a slender majority, winning 283 seats in a house of 520 members. The voter had shown their anger and put the dominant party on alert. incidentally the newly launched Swatantra Party, advocating free enterprise and economic reforms was the second largest party with 44 members followed by Jan Sangh with 35 members.
The internal strife within the Congress led to its finally splitting in 1969, into two parties, with Indira heading the breakaway Indian National Congress (R) and the original party now was called INC(O). The elections were held in March 1971 and the voters were swayed by the 'Garibi Hatao' slogan of Indira. Hope once again decided the voters choice and Indira's party won a massive landslide victory getting 352 seats. It was an Indira wave across the country and voters were voting for progress under younger leaders rather than old one's leading the parent Congress party.
The Indian voters for the first time showed their power. In the sixth general elections held in 1977, held after lifting the emergency imposed in June 1975, the Congress party was voted out of power for the first time. The anger of the voters saw the emergence of the Janata Party a coalition of many opposition parties, winning 298 seats against Congress's 153 seats. The voter had shown their resentment at the suspension of civil liberties during the period of emergency. That Indians loved civil liberties and democracy was proved by this behavior of the voters. It was South which saved Congress as the excesses of the emergency were not as harsh as they were in North and West . In fact in many parts of India like UP, Bihar and Bengal strong seeds of anti Congress feelings were strengthened and have continued till today.
However the Janata Party was not able to provide a strong government in Delhi and collapsed in 1980 and fresh elections were held. In a remarkable display voters reelected Indira and Congress with a huge majority giving them 374 seats against 41 to Janata Party. It was clear that the voter recognized the leadership qualities of Indira but resented her autocratic behavior. They punished her by voting her out in 1977 and felt she had learnt her lesson and thus massively supported her again. A chastened Indira had learnt her lesson.
However in 1984 following the Operation Bluestar, her bodyguards killed Indira and elections were announced. The 1984 elections were swept by a massive sympathy wave and Congress emerged victorious with 416 seats in the Lok Sabha. The Indian voter had voted out of emotion and also the fact that Rajiv Gandhi was seen as a young and modern person who also exuded charm.
However the 1989 elections saw a reversal of fortunes for the Congress as it was once again voted out of power winning only 143 seats. The coalition of opposition parties Janata Party led buy V P Singh won 197 seats and form a shaky government. The Indian voter had voted against the alleged corruption in the purchase of the Swedish Bofors gun. For the first time corruption was a major issue and the voters showed their resentment.
V P Singh's government lasted only 16 months and fresh elections were held in May-June 1991. It was known as the Mandal-Mandir elections as the society was divided into forward and backward castes clashing because of 27% reservations to OBC's and the Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid issue gathering storm. It was India's fist polarized election and voters were expected to vote in a polarized manner. However the unfortunate assassination of Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991 was to once again create a sympathy wave for the Congress party. It won 244 seats against 120 won by BJP, and managed to run a minority government for its full term during which Indian economy was moved away from socialism to globalization and reforms were introduced. The Indian voter who was angry with the Congress till May 20th by which time nearly votes for nearly 200 seats were cast turned emotional and increasingly voted for Congress in the postponed mid June elections for the remaining seats. Once again emotion had the better of the Indian voter.
The elections to the 11th Lok Sabha, in 1996, saw the Indian voter for the first time vote a hung Parliament. The national parties had joined with regional parties as on their own they were not sure of gaining a strong foothold. The emergence of a third front also took place.The Congress suffered its worst performance getting only 140 seats. BJP and its allies got 187 seats and the Janata Dal and its allies got 192 seats. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was invited to form the government but gave up after 13 days as he could not garner the required majority. Congress declined to form the government. The chance was then given to Janata Dal who formed the government with Dewe Gowda as the PM and with Congress giving outside support. Congress withdrew support to him and another Janata Dal leader I K Gujral became PM. But these were shaky arrangements which lasted for only two years before fresh elections were called. The Indian voter had got distributed between different ideologies and also between national and regional parties. The result was not only a hung Parliament but also political uncertainty.
Elections were held in 1998. The voters for the first time gave the BJP more seats than Congress. BJP got 182 vs 141 of Congress. The Indian voter had once again not given a clear verdict in favour of a single party or coalition. It was clear that the voters were not breaking away entirely from the Congress and also not wholeheartedly joining the BJP. Voters had also voted for many regional parties whose members also became MP's in significant numbers. It was clear that increasing number of voters were becoming regional in their outlook. A marked change was taking place in the voters of many states. The fragmentation of the voters choices, saw the 12th Lok Sabha last only for a year before fresh elections were again called in September 1999.
The BJP led NDA was able to get 270 seats and formed the government with outside support of TDP's 29 seats. It was the first non-Congress government to last its full term. The voting pattern showed that both the national parties were unable once again to get a majority on their own, The voters were encouraging the coming together of a number of parties to form the government. The coalition form of government had been firmly established and was to be the model for future governments. The voters in many states like Tamil Nadu, Punjab, UP, Bihar, AP, were voting for regional parties and these were playing a role at government formation at the Center.
It was election time again in 2004 to elect the 14th Lok Sabha. It was widely predicted and believed that the BJP led NDA would be returned to power. However the Indian voter sprang a major surprise. NDA"s 'shining India' campaign failed to impress the average voter. Congress led UPA 1 was voted to power and Sonia Gandhi sprang a surprise by declining to assume the PM's post, instead offering it to Dr Manmohan Singh. The voter in the rural areas was not interested in only selected urban pockets make progress and voted the BJP led NDA out of power.
In 2009 again it was expected that the 15th Lok Sabha would be controlled by BJP led NDA. The voters continued their support for the UPA it formed the government again as UPA 2 led by Dr Manmohan Singh. Congress got 206 seats against BJP's 116 seats, The UPA could garner the total support of 322 members in the 543 member Lok Sabha.
From the above voting pattern of Indian voters it can be observed that no single party is able to get a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha since 1996. In fact, both the national parties Congress and BJP are not able to attract majority support for their manifestos. They have to fight the elections along with other, mostly regional parties and also seek support from other, again regional parties to form the government. The voters are not ready to transfer their loyalties from regional parties to either of the two national parties. Strong regional outfits like TMC, AIADMK, DMK, BJD, RJD, NC, Akali Dal, ,SP, BSP,SS etc are able to corner more than one third of the Lok Sabha seats.
This puts the BJP and the Congress in a weak position as they have to compromise their agendas to accommodate the smaller regional parties agendas for their support in government formation. The quality of governance goes down. It has also started affecting the conduct of the country's foreign policy.
The Indian voter has in a large measure moved away from a significant national perspective in the years after independence to a significant local perspective which started in 1996. It seems the agenda of the national parties does not appeal to the voters to wean them away from local parties. The narrow issues of caste, religion or language are found more uniting by the voters on a pan India basis. There are no serious expectations from major political parties and therefore segregation into common identity groups is preferred. After Indira Gandhi there has been no leader who could catch the country's imagination and thus local leaders appeal is stronger.
However in the 2014 ongoing elections, it does seem that governance is becoming a major issue. Voters are taking into account the issues of corruption. scams, state of economy, quality and style of leadership factors and there is a growing expectation that this election may see the Indian voter voting for a national party in larger numbers than in the past few elections.However there are planned attempts to polarize the voters especially on religious grounds in major states. How the voters will respond will be known only when the final results are declared..
The Indian voter is an alert voter live to the issues on hand and his verdict is both sought and feared by the politicians. The largest democracy in the world is sustained by the increased participation of the voters in all of India in a peaceful and safe environment. The voters exercise their right to vote as per their choice for the candidate or party they feel will serve them the best for the next five years. However the voter also is aware of the fact that his expectations are generally not fulfilled by the elected representatives. Yet it is a tribute to the humble Indian voter that he he does not allow his dissatisfaction to prevent him from exercising his right to vote. The voter understands the responsibility of forming a responsible government.
Long live Indian democracy !!
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