Filed under: Cynthia Chandran | Tags: attacks, BJP, Elections, Kashmir, UPA
In India, counting of votes for State elections is scheduled to take place on 8 December, except in Kashmir where votes will be tallied on 28 December. State assembly elections were held in six States over the last few weeks.
Critics and media pundits are looking forward to the results. Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Mizoram had gone to the polls.
Parliamentary elections are due in the first half of next year and the state polls are expected to give a sense of how the electorate may vote then.
The ruling Congress government at the centre and the main opposition party, Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) were equally confident of getting majority of the seats. But post 26/11 attacks; it is doubtful who will have an upper hand.
Only Chattisgarh had gone to the electoral fray before the Mumbai attacks. After the attacks, Indians all over the country had held large demonstrations directing their anger at the politicians. The politicians had come under fire from the media and the pubic alike, regardless of whether they were from the ruling Congress or the BJP.
I feel skeptical that the public outcry would not spur any change in the political establishment. The voting percentage was badly affected, even though the government took extra efforts to have the citizens cast their votes.
Jolt from the blue
The Congress government was literally taken aback by the Mumbai attacks and their inefficiency in tackling the attacks were bared before the public. This had ruined the image of the government very badly.
Hence the ruling party was very desperate to put the fault on across the border, even before concrete evidence could be known. In a way, the government is trying to put the blame on Pakistan in order to have face saving measures.
Even before the attacks, the people were disappointed with the government due to inflation. The price of fuel and other essential commodities were hiked without any logic.
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had cut down the fuel price only few days back and the rate were not controlled even when the international price had decreased drastically. All this factors are going to be affected very badly in the electoral fray.
The BJP will also be having a tough time as it had created anti nationalist sentiments during the enquiry of Malegaon bomb blasts. However, the BJP has been campaigning for a tougher anti-terror law in response to the terrorist attacks.
It is very unlikely that the BJP can have some stakes on the results.
Polling in Kashmir
Kashmir had a heavy turn out of voters as the people there were keen to see a change in the government and wanted to eradicate militancy. It was held in seven phases. They wanted a stable government, which would be tough towards terrorism.
The people of Kashmir have to wait longer until the end of this month to know about the electoral results. Now it is a matter of few hours to know the outcome of the six state elections.
Photograph with special permission from Indiavision news channel
The dreams of both the parties are going to be shattered very soon. Now both the political parties would have to toil extra hard to get back the people’s confidence and to motivate them to vote them back to power again.
But are the politicians able to understand the change of mind of the voters?
Filed under: Cynthia Chandran | Tags: Chattisgarh, Elections, exit polls, intelligence failures, rising prices, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur
While India was reeling under the shock of the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the central Indian state, Madhya Pradesh was going on polls. Usually the Election Commission announces the poll percentage within an hour of the completion of the poll. But that didn’t happen on Thursday evening.
Six states are going to the polls which had started since 14th November, 2008.
Photograph with special permission from Indiavision News Channel.
Elections are due to follow in the coming few days in Delhi, North eastern state of Mizoram and western state of Rajasthan. Chattisgarh polling was marred by Maoist rebels, who are quite active in the state. Due to security reasons, elections in Jammu & Kashmir are taking place over seven phases, running in to several weeks.
Until yesterday, the major hurdle the UPA government faced was the rising prices. Recently there was a spate of bomb attacks by Islamist militants in different parts of the country. Many Indian cities, including the capital, Delhi and other states like Bangalore, Jaipur and Ahmedabad have been hit by bomb blasts recently, resulting in huge casualties.
The government was trying to sideline those attacks as the handiwork of militants across the border. But since the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the weakness of the government and its functioning of the intelligence wing have been bared before the public.
The Congress government was hoping to build on the results and hence call for an early general election in February. Now it is expected that the government may want to delay the vote until May, when the five year parliamentary term ends.
No bed of roses
With state assembly elections currently under way, the Indian government is under pressure to explain the intelligence failures.
But things are not that rosy for the main opposition party, Bharathiya Janatha Party as well. The people were shocked to learn that Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was arrested for being a key suspect in the Malegaon bomb blast case, which had killed dozens of people.
What added more fuel to the fire was her close association with L.K.Advani, the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP? However, the BJP has been campaigning for a tougher anti-terror law in response to the terrorist attacks. The outcome of the polling will be known on 8th December, whereas the results will be known in Jammu & Kashmir only on 28th December.
When Mumbai is still groping in the dark to flush out the terrorists from Taj Mahal Hotel, the UPA government’s ineffectiveness to tackle terrorism has been once again bared before the people. I am curious to know which party will get the maximum number of seats in the state elections.
Usually an election brings revenue to the dozens of news channels in India by doing exit polls. But this time the government has approved a proposal to ban exit polls till the first phase of the polling is over, which has been a setback for the growing number of psephologists (the study of elections) in India.
So people all over the country are eager to know about the outcome of the state elections.
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