Delhi Votes 2015

Today (7 February 2015), Delhi is voting again. In December 2013, the 15-year rule of the Congress came to an end with BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and its allies getting the maximum number of seats (32/70), but fell short of a majority. A minority government by AAP (the newly constituted Aam Aadmi Party) with 28 seats formed a government, but gave up this responsibility in 49 days; it has been nearly an year since then. 

In the interim, the Lok Sabha elections in May 2014 gave a resounding victory to BJP that gave India its 15th Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. And, in Delhi the BJP won in all the seven parliamentary constituencies and were leading in 60 of the assembly segments. Thus, immediately after that the writing on the wall was that BJP would have a convincing majority in the next assembly elections when it would be held.

Recent pre-poll surveys have shown that the competition is likely to be close finish between AAP (with Arvind Kejriwal as its Chief Ministerial candidate) and BJP (with Kiran Bedi as its Chief Ministerial candidate) and many of them giving AAP an edge. After an experience in the previous two elections, AAP was better prepared and did not allow the debate to be set in terms of how BJP wanted it to be. For instance, it did not engage with the BJP's five questions per day. It was also able to counter and defend some (rather most) of the allegations. There were some internal differences within AAP and a lesson that they have learnt from previous elections is that while respecting internal democracy they do not want to go into the details when elections are ongoing.

In any case, there has been a surge in AAP and its Chief Ministerial candidate's popularity (I have heard some BJP sympathizers also arguing in their favour). However, with my two pence of understanding, I somehow had a feeling that the day before elections (when there would be no official campaigning) would matter. In this sense, Imam Bukhari's statement in favour of AAP (it is immaterial whether this was a personal statement or because of some backdoor parleys) came to BJP's advantage even while AAP was quick to deny that support. The BJP volunteers, while not officially campaigning, would have made all efforts to convey their side of the story in their voter-level micro-management.

The aggressive position of BJP that AAP is appeasing minorities could veer some voters if the atmosphere gets charged and also get their sympathizer's back to their fold. With the experience of two recent elections, AAP would have been aware of keeping their volunteers in preparation for this last minute need. Today's election would also depend on how they would have countered on this as also other aspects of BJP's last minute micro-management.

I also have a feeling that the Congress (with Ajay Maken as its Chief Ministerial candidate) will also restore some of its vote share that it lost during the 2014 general elections, but not sure whether it would help them better their performance compared to December 2013. 

Whatever be the outcome, the focus of this elections has been either to support or oppose Arvind Kejriwal/AAP. With voting getting completed in a few hours from now, all eyes and ears till the 10th  of February will be between AAP and BJP.

An open letter from an ordinary citizen

The general elections have been concluded in India. It is a foregone conclusion that her next Prime Minister will be the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) Mr Narendra MODI. Much has been said and there are two broad possibilities that one foresees. The best-case scenario is the 'Making Of Democratic Institutions', an euphemism that I use for development, governance and all that the supporters are enthused about. As against this, the worst-case scenario is that it would 'Mar (nay, M...) Our Democracy Inevitably', an euphemism that I use for crony capitalism and divisiveness among others that many others fear. For both these scenarios, the acronyms match with the last name of our Prime Minister.

In this MODI vs MODI diatribe, the development vis-a-vis crony capitalism discussion will continue to remain a matter of interpretation and ideological moorings and the debate will be difficult to conclude. There will also be differences of opinion from withing the ruling party and its affiliates and one has to see which direction it takes. The so-called Gujarat-model or the trumpeted Kerala-model. Well, one has to take the best of both worlds and make Jagdish Bhagwati and Amartya Sen come to an agreement.

The contentious part will be juxtaposing governance and divisiveness. Ideally speaking, any polarization leading to divisiveness anywhere should be considered as a failure of governance. However, from a practical consideration it is possible that the government reaches out to a larger section while ignoring a smaller section. What is more, the principle of exclusion could be based on caste, class, gender, religion and other such identities. If these fears are addressed they will definitely not exorcise the ghosts of the past, but they will bode well for the country's future. Where will we head to? Only time will tell.

In reality, the actual path will be somewhere in between. Politically, if extreme adversities do not come in the way, the future looks like advantage BJP. It is hear that I am concerned as an ordinary citizen because for an effective democracy we need a credible and responsible opposition, which is missing. True, the drubbing of 2014 will lead to soul-searching by all parties, but it is difficult to know what would emerge.

The Congress still seems to have a proportion of population voting for them. Perhaps they identify them with the freedom movement or because of their loyalty to the family. However, if the party has to come-back then it has to go beyond these loyal voters and for that it needs to get out of dynastic politics and develop its grassroots organisation - a tall order indeed.

This is also true for the multitude of regional parties that have lost. They need to get back to their drawing board and re-invent themselves. Those who have withstood the change will end up supporting the ruling alliance because of the dynamics of centre-state relationships, but also because of their personal vested interests. 

Today, the only party that seems to be articulating against vested interest in word and deed is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). But then some of their elected representatives from Delhi seem to have developed cold-feet with the prospect of loosing a fresh election and are clamouring for a fresh go at government-formation. If hastily resigning was a sign of immaturity then their trying to get back to power again when they do not have the strength and after the recent drubbing will be identified with opportunism. This is a catch-22 situation for them.

AAP may try their old style referendum to know what people in Delhi want, but even if people want they cannot form a government because either BJP or Congress has to agree to that arrangement. In any case, BJP fresh with a victory may now like to go for a fresh election and this time AAP will have a tough time.

Yes, AAP did increase its vote share in Delhi, but it has also lost some supporters and the BJP has increased its share by a larger proportion. Will AAP be able to get back those votes that moved away from it if there is a fresh election? Will it be able to add votes from those who did not vote for them or BJP? Will it be able to counter the new BJP campaign that will also have their government at the centre? Will it have resources and volunteers to campaign for it if there is a fresh election? 

At the national level, obtaining resources and volunteers will be essential for building up a strong organisational structure. Where are they going to get this from in the next five years? How does it plan to address vested interests within their organisational structure? Does it plan to build alliances or at least seat sharing or not putting up candidates if another party seems to have a reasonable candidate who may have disagreements with them but subscribes to some people-centric principles and is not corrupt?

What are the plans that they have for the four constituencies that they have won in Punjab. In principle they are against use of MP and MLA funds. This will be an ideal set-up if the government is also theirs. However, with the conventional governance structure it would be better if the candidates for these four constituencies use the funds in a meaningful way. 

As an outside lay citizen, the advantage of AAP is that it has taken into its fold people with different views and ideologies. This would give space for internal deliberations and space for multiple views. This itself makes it like the Congress party of yore and it should take advantage of this.

Idealism is good and people respect AAP for that. However, practical considerations are also important. For instance, emphasis need not be on legislation always and that too when one does not have a majority, but rather focusing on governance and achieving many other things that could be possible without legislation.

To sum up, the future seems to be advantage BJP. Congress and the multitude of regional satraps need soul-searching. AAP that once provided hope and aspirations to some will have a lot of questions to answer. It is a churning between the Congress, the regional satraps and AAP that could perhaps give a reasonable opposition. Let us wait and see.

My other recent election related musings are:

A tall order there for pluralism to resurface

ABC of Indian Elections 2014

Rawlsian veil, Smithian impartiality and Indian Elections of 2014

ABC of Indian Elections 2014

I have already discussed about the elections under a veil. Now, let me open the veil a bit and discuss the ABC of Indian Elections 2014. A is for AAP (Aam Aadmi Party), B is for BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and C is for the Congress or INC (Indian National Congress).

The Congress has a national following because it is identified with the country's independence movement. It is this identity that made the Congress to be the ruling party for about 50 year's in the nation's 67 years democracy. The Congress party of yore was thought to represent all kinds of views - the left, the right, the centre, the left of centre. the right of centre and so on and so forth. Over the years, the party's leadership got identified with a single family - the Nehru-Gandhi family (they have no relationship with Mahatma Gandhi) and its current President and Vice-President are Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi respectively. They have also been the leading party of an alliance that has been ruling for the last ten years that was marred with corruption. In the current election the Congress faces serious anti-incumbency on account of corruption and dynastic politics.

Taking advantage of this, the BJP and its allies have made a head start. They have announced Narendra Modi to be their Prime Ministerial candidate. This itself charged the adrenalin of many extreme right wing party cadre and supporters while for some others it brought back the memories of divide and misrule aligned with one of the worst communal violence of India that rocked Gujarat in 2002 only a few months after he was sworn in as its Chief Minister.  Today, after being in charge of the state for more than 12 years, he is being championed as a poster boy of development whose report card by Arvind Panagariya drives the punters with one feet in the share-bazaar gong-ho, but independent analysis by Maitreesh Ghatak and Sanchari Roy show that the claims of development do not add up. 

The BJP is not leaving any stones unturned and has set up pre-poll alliances, taken back into its fold people who were recently distanced on account of corruption and given tickets to candidates who are turncoats from the Congress and other parties. Thereby, making it obvious that it is NOT a party with a difference. What is more, BJP's campaigning has made use of Modi's persona to such an extent that many supporters are not keen to know who the party's candidate is from their constituency. This should be an important case study in marketing, but then the basis of representative democracy is made to stand on its head.

To bolster the case for representative democracy, to be a party with a difference, to question dynastic politics and to rake up the case for corruption is a recent entrant in India's democratic polity, the AAP. For many, this party is identified with another poster boy - Arvind Kejriwal who was the Chief Minister of Delhi for 49 days as a minority government. His sudden resignation from this has become a scoring point for the other parties and a sore point that its candidates have to answer the electorate. But then those interested in these answers should keep a watch on Varanasi where Kejriwal has pitted himself against Modi and it is dubbed as the mother of all battles for elections 2014.

While many opinion polls have dismissed AAP in the current elections, my lay guestimate is that they could reach at least 10 to 15 per cent of the popular vote share. Many of my friends and colleagues with whom I discuss may not agree, but let me explain the reasons that I have.

First, AAP is beyond Arvind Kejriwal. It is a conglomerate of views. There are people who are to the left, some other with views to the right and many others that are spread between the two. While this may look like cacophony to someone at one end of the spectrum but then this is what democratic polity is all about - reasonable pluralism.  It gives space to deliberations for a wide spectrum of views. It is like the Congress of yore. Different political entities, including the BJP to a very limited extent, tried to take this space that Congress lost long back, but they have not been successful. This space is being taken over by AAP.

Second, being open to a conglomerate of views has allowed AAP to connect to different kinds of movements that various groups have been independently spearheading - anti-nuclear, crisis in agriculture, displacement, slum housing, and tribal rights among others. This may not lead to an outright increase in votes for AAP by all these disgruntled groups, but it cannot be ignored that there is a consolidation happening.

Third, some people would be interested in a candidate's capability to address issues that matter for the constituency. Many candidates of AAP have done this - they have made attempts to directly engage with their voters and this will be an important motivation for some to vote for these candidates.

Fourth, AAP is contesting in 434 constituencies that is spread across the country. Given the limited resources (time, people and money) they have spread themselves thin and if voters would not like to waste their vote then they may cast it in favour of an winning candidate. While such an impression creation is possible, but this does not cut much ice because most of the winning candidates could get less than half the vote share (say, around 35-40 per cent) indicating that more than half the voters still may not cast their votes for the winning candidate. In short, those who have decided to vote for AAP because of the first three reasons could still vote for them and this would be spread across the country and this will add to their vote share.

Fifth, because of efforts by the Election Commission of India, the Association for Democratic Reforms and Satyamev Jayate there has been an increase in people coming out to vote in this elections. If this increase is by people who did not want to vote because they were disillusioned by the system then it is quite likely that many of these first time voters may cast their preferences in favour of AAP.

It is possible that my guestimates are on the higher side and even it it is correct then it may not transfer into seats. But, if my guestimate is correct then the other parties may better watch out for AAP in the next elections. And, yes the next election could happen very soon if this election gives us a hung parliament, which seems more likely.

To sum up, AAP seems to be a party that gives space to multiple views and also one that makes a difference. The former makes it like the Congress and the latter makes it like what BJP would have  perhaps wanted to be. It is in this sense that AAP is a B team of Congress and a C team of BJP.

Budget 2009: After Masima, Jethu's Bari

In the railway budget of 2009, Masima had her say. In Budget 2009, Jethu (Shri Pranab Mukherjee) had his say (If I was twenty years younger I would have addressed him as Dadu) while sipping water in between. The first message that has to be read between the lines is that the Indian National Congress (INC) as also Trinamool Congress are aiming at the state elections of West Bengal in 2011. There is also a medium term target of Uttar Pradesh in 2012. The Left Front, Bahujan Samaj and Samajbadi better watch out.

The budget is also a way of saying thank you to all those who voted the United Progressive Alliannce back to power. The increased expenditure under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is on expected lines. The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) that would restructure the existing Swarnajayati Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) and integrating with Self-help groups and other initiative are welfare programmes that show promise.

What worries most is the increasing expenditure without commensurat receipts leading to an increase in fiscal deficit. Jethu is not too much bothered about this becaue of the global financial crisis. He will wait for the fruit to ripe.

Politically, the immediate concern would be Maharashtra elections later in the year. With delayed monsoons, will the Vidarbha task force, debt waiver and urban storm water drains help. Only time will tell.

Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar and Back

Well, we were away for a vacations, or, that is what we thought. One week at Hyderabad, one week at Bhubaneswar and one week at Mumbai itself.

We reached Hyderabad on the 16th in the afternoon, the day when the reseults for the general elections were declarred. We made the mistake of coming by local train from Secundrabad and had to wait in the station for more than an hour. Not a good decision. We should have taken a taxi.

The election result was sort of status quo at the Centre as well as in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa though with changed equations in alliances. The Central government did not have Lalu, their partner for five years, or Mulayam, who bailed them out with the Nuclear fiasco. It seems that the Yadavs (including the one from Janata Dal (United)) are together when it comes to opposing women representation. Unfortunately, I do not have a good example from the most illustrious Yadava we know - Lord Krishna. Those days women were not rulers. But, Rukmini, still ruled. She was the embodiment of wealth, Godess Lakshmi incarnate.

On way to Bhubaneswar we had some lively discussions with fellow travellers. A couple of them confirmed that the debt waiver is an election gimmik. A co-passenger, who is a small manufacturer, benefited. He had taken some loan showing some agricultural land in his native villagem, which was waived. Despite this, he himself voted for the anti-cooruption crusader Jaiprakash Narayan, who won from Kukatpally in Hyderabad. Cheeranjivi's Praja Rajyam's debacle was not unexpected because of high-handedness in giving tickets by taking money (three crore rupees). In fact, one candidates wife committed suicide as he had mortgaged all land to get this money. Further, Cheeranjivi's personal record in contributing to social welfare in his native village was not good either. Long back he had sold off his land after he requested by people from that this could be used for a school/community centre, he had shown disrespect to one of his teachers and so on and so forth.

The economic downturn had negative impact on our co-traveller's business initially because stocks which were made with inputs purchased at higher prices had to be sold at lower prices. Ater the stocks were cleared in one-two months things are fine because inputs are also cheaper. This gentermal entrepreneur has an interesting story because he was not a sucessful student. After completing schooling he left village for higher studies (Engineering) but the world of English teaching and away from home was totally new and he could not cope up. He returned back and dabbled with odd jobs, took to real estate, gave it up to take up shrimp farming in native village, but heavy losses forced him back to Hyderabad looking for odd jobs and now he is producing aluminium products in two/three manufacturing centres and has plans of further expansion.

On Satyam people think that there is more than what is obvious. Showing profits when company is not doing is a common practise so that one gets funds, but this happening for a continuing period of time when the IT sector was doing well means something is fishy. The Maytas group dabbling with land and the fall in real estate must be a concern. Getting arrested could be a ploy to avoid going to the US where Mr Raju faces other serious charges.

Next day (23rd May) we passed through Chilika. Nerika enjoyed taking a number of snaps; see Chilika Tire. I took Solitude, the cowherd with his catle taking rest from the May heat under the shade of a tree.

On 24th, we went to my school, Stewart School, Unit VIII, Bhubaneswar. Very close to where we stay now. As children when we were stydying there our house at BJB flat was quite far (eight-ten kilometres; not much in Mumbai standards). It was nostalgic, but the camera's memory stopped me from taking a number of pictures.

Nandini had warned that Nerika is going to ask some serious questions; be prepared to answer. Yes, she did. Why is it that Jejebapa and Jejema are not staying in the same house. We were putting up at the Nuapalli house where Nana (Nerika's Jejebapa) was. Bou (Nerika's Jejema) visits this place ocassionally, but stays at the fourth-floor LIC flat, which I happend-to-own. Why is she staying there alone? Is that an old-age home? To add to it she had a plastered leg. I do not know what all questions went through Nerika's mind, but I am not sure whether I have convincing answers for them.

Nerika, however, went with me all the times that we went there and also enjoyed the toys she got from her. Once when Bou came to Nuapalli she also played cards, which Nerika has picked up at Hyderabad while playing with her Tatta-Ammu (the other grand parents). She also played once or twice with her Jejebapa, a serious Bridge player who was not enjoying it as much. The other more serious question she had was about maid servants (see Another Lesson at Bringing Up Momma by Nandini).

On our last day in Bhubaneswar, we taxed Neri taking her all around under the sweltering May heat. The result was that she suffered from indigestion which had an adverse impact on her health for the next week back in Mumbai. It did not do much good because one of my frinds with his family came with us. The extended vaccation fro Nerika as also her birthday celebrations were subdued.

Staying with my friends family was different. At Bhubaneswar we visited them but we never stayed together. This time when we stayed it was different from our days in hostel 20 years ago. Nerika was not well. Nandini was taxed and to add to it I was busy trying to meet some deadlines in office. My friend and his family were also busy. They had come with the expectation of travelling and going out. They did, but we were not part of it. It is time for all of us to get back...

Congress Comeback and Expectations

The election news in India is that the Congress will come back to power with some outside support. It looks like that this will also be a stable government.

With the monsoon going to set in early, the party has to give greater priority to Agriculture from the beginning. This is where more than half of the people and nearly three-fourths of rural people still depend upon there livelihood. If this is going to be a second term for Dr Manmohan Singh and he wants Mr Rahul Gandhi to be in the cabinet and I think that the latter should take up agriculture. In this sector, the opposition also needs to be involved in a major way. If planned well this has the capacity to address the larger financial crisis. The blueprint of the District Agricultural Plan has a lot of potential but then its implementation at the ground level is tardy.

Two positive and people friendly developments of the last government were the Right to Information (RTI) and the Nationation Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). This has definited translated into votes. These have to be carried forward with more vigour, make NREGA more inclusive (as already indicated by the Right to Food group) and also bring in a comprehensive Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) so that this self-employment programme complements the NREGAs wage employment.

Before I forget, they should initiate immediate steps to free Dr. Binayak Sen. He has been in jail for more than two years now. Then only, Jai Ho!

India Votes for Loksabha: Phase-V 2009

The last and final phase of elections will end on 13 May 2009. This will take place in 86 constituencies spread across nine states. They are Chandigarh (1), Haryana (4), Puducherry (1), Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Punjab (9), West Bengal (11), Jammu & Kashmir (2), and Uttar Pradesh (14). As the campaigning ends one feels that the desperation and fractions in the Indian National Congress (INC) and its coalition of the United Progressive Alliance is more visible whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its coalition of the National Democratic Alliance seems to be comfortable, though they may not get to the magic figure. Nevertheless, one intuitively feels that there are a number of surprises that one would expect. Post-poll arithmetic would be an interesting exercise.

India Votes for Loksabha: Phase-IV 2009

The fourth phase of elections is on 7 May 2009. There are 86 constituencies spread across eight state going into the polls. They are Bihar (3), Haryana (10), Jammu & Kashmir (1), Punjab (4), Rajasthan (25), Uttar Pradesh (18), West Bengal (17) and the New Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi (8).

In two assembly segments of Nalanda and two of Pataliputra (both in Bihar) the timing for voting is till 3.00 pm only. The battle royal is in NCT Delhi. The patience seems to be running out. People now are eager for these last to phases to get over and the counting to start on 16 May. The indication is that neither the Congress nor the BJP are likely to emerge as strong contenders independently.

India Votes for Loksabha: Phase-III 2009

Tomorrow (30 April 2009) is the third phase of elections. It is being conducted in 107 constituencies spread across 11 states. They are Bihar (11), Gujarat (26), Jammu & Kashmir (1), Karnataka (11), Madhya Pradesh (16), Maharashtra (10), Sikkim (1), Uttar Pradesh (15), West Bengal (14), Dadra & Naagar Haveli (1), and Daman & Diu (1) (see Map).

This phase is special as being in Mumbai, I would also be voting tomorrow. The elections for the ten seats in Maharashtra are those in Mumbai (6) and Thane (4). The Chief Electoral Officer Mumbai has put up helplines for people to find out their booths. The helpline numbers are 2279 3925 and 3219 7767. One can also SMS and get information, the mobile numbers are: 9320 899623, 9320 928504, 9320 948340, 9322 193799, and 9324 376961.

My constituency is Mumbai North West and when I called up I was successful in getting the details of my polling booth (Gurukul Vidyalaya, Ground Floor, Room No.1, General AK Vaidya Marg, Malad (E)). This is close to my place of residence at IGIDR.

I will elaborate a little more about my constituency. There are 21 candidates in the fray. They are: Athar Siddiqui (Bahujan Samaj Party, BSP), Ad.Kamat Gurudas Vasant (Indian National Congress, INC), Gajanan Kirtikar (Shiv Sena, SHS, in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP), Aggarwal Rishi Dharampal (Jago Party (JGP), a new party with base in Rajasthan that is against corruption), Abu Asim Azmi (Samajwadi Party, SP), Jadhav Bhikaji Gangaram (Kranti Kari Jai Hind Sena), Thakare Shalini Jitendra (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a party formed after splintering from Shiv Sena), Tawade Dilip Narayan (All India Forward Bloc), Pawar Subhash Pandurang (Prabuddha Republican Party), Vaijanath Sangram Gaikwad (Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangha) and eleven independents - Anita Ramkrushan Rupawate, Kamble Satish Kisan, Dayanand Nivruti Kamble, Dhotre Maruti Yamnappa, Ninad Manjardekar, Pramod Sitaram Kasurde, Bhatia Ripudaman Singh (a marine engineer), Mohammed Rafiq Abdul Razak Shaikh, Mahadev Limbaji Galphade, Dr. Vijay Bhave (a child specialist), and Santosh Pandurang Chaike.

As a layman one began by thinking that Ad Gurdas Kamat (INC) and Gajanan Kirtikar (SHS) are strong contenders. The former's traditional vote bank may be dented by Athar Siddiqui (BSP)and Abu Azmi (SP) whereas Shalini Thakare (MNS) may dent that of Kirtikar. In fact, an on line poll in Mumbai Mirror for Mumbai Nort West gives more than half the votes to Athar Siddiqui and 15 per cent to Shalini Thakare. For the other five Mumbai constituencies the Mumbai Mirror results are as follows. Dr. Mona Shah (Professional Party of India) and the Banker Meera Sanyal (Indepent) doing well in Mumbai South. Sanjay Nirupam (INC), Shirish Parkar (MNS) and Ram Naik (BJP) are fighting it out in Mumbai North. Priya Dutt Roncon (INC) is ahead of Shilpa Sarpotdar (MNS) who seems to be denting BJP's Ram Jathmalani in Mubai North Central. Shailen Ghosh (Independent) and Shweta Parlekar (MNS) seem to be doing better than Eknath Gaikwad (INC) and Suresh Gambhir (SHS). In Mumbai North East, Shishir Shinde (MNS) seems to be better poised than that of Kirit Somaiya of BJP and Sanjay Dina Patil of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The Times of India's Lead India series indicates that Mumbai North West looks for Mr Clean while highlighting the candidatures of Kamat, Kirtikar, Azmi and Thakare. On line voting of issues by Mumbai Votes identified corruption, terrorism, public transport, disaster management and environmental protection. Based on the Manifesto and promises of the contenders, Rishi Aggarwal of JGP seems to be the real Mr Clean.

In Mumbai North West, five candidates have provided their profile in websites and four of them have a group in facebook in their support. They are Rishi Aggarwal (FB group), Abu Azmi (FB group), Shalini Thakare (FB group), Ripudaman Bhatia (FB group), and Dr Vijay Bhave.

A broad reading at this stage is that MNS is going to give a run to BJP-Shiv Sena combine in the city. If only they would not have cultivated an anti-North Indian image they would have been a force to reckon with. There is a mood for change and there are going to be some major surprises. The dampener is that with a holiday being declared tomorrow, followed by labour day May 1st and the weekend many people might have taken a break and gone out of the city. Nevertheless, my word is that INC-NCP and BJP-SHS better watch out!

India Votes for Loksabha: Phase-I 2009

Today, 16 April 2009, is the schedule for the Phase-1 of General Elections 2009 in India to its Parliament (Loksabha). Voting will take place in 124 constituencies spreading across 17 states/union territories. They are one in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, 22 (of the 42) in Andhra Pradesh, two in Arunachal Pradesh, three (of the 14) in Assam, 13 (of the 40) in Bihar, 11 in Chhattisgarh, one (of the six) in Jammu & Kashmir, 20 in Kerala, one in Lakshadweep, 13 (of the 48) in Maharashtra, one (of the two) in Manipur, two in Meghalaya, one in Mizoram, one in Nagaland, six (of the 14) in Jharkhand, 10 (of the 21) in Orissa (see Map). In Andhra Pradesh (154 out of 294) and Orissa (70 of the 147) voters have to also cast for their respective Assembly constituencies. Voting time is from 7am to 5pm.

Some of the prominent places of elections are Vidarbha in Maharashtra (the cotton zone receiving limelight in recent years for increasing farmers' suicides), Chhattisgarh where the Government claims to have created a people's movement (Salwa Judum) to take on Naxalites. The Telengana region in Andhra Pradesh with almost all parties endorsing the formation of a new state. The state also has a new party Praja Rajyam (People's rule) with their matinee idol Chiranjeevi at its helm. Kandhamal in Orissa where one witnessed communal disturbances last year, a reason cited by the current ruling party of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) with Naveen Patnaik as Chief Minister to break ties with their alliance partner Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) just before the current elections. A common thing of the regions in these four states as also Jharkhand is that they are largely from the contiguous geographical region called Dandakaranya of the Central Indian Plateau. They are also either rainfed or dryland regions with high incidences of poverty.

For the 124 loksabha seats 1715 (including 122 women) candidates are in the fray whose fate would be decided by more than 143 million eligible voters. Electronic voting machines would be used. However results have to wait till all the five phases of elections are over. The remaining phases will be on 23 April, 30 April, 7 May, and 13 May. Counting will take place on 16 May 2009.

We are Indians

Today I chanced upon the blog We Are Indians. It is a good one. More importantly it provides links to the manifestos of the two major parties, Congress (or here) and BJP (or here, see highlights) in the run-up to the 2009 general elections. The author has also given a comparison between the two. The most important message from the blog is to go out and vote. From the blog, one could implicitly know that the IBN portal covering the general elections 2009 is a good one.