Nerve Endings Firing Away

The great Indian political tamasha begins in a few hours as India begins to count its votes cast in the previous month over five stages. As expected, respecting the wishes of the electorate isn’t even part of the discussion or analysis but rather what perks will be offered by the single-largest party to the numerous wannabes in order to form the next government. And by single-largest party, I mean the entity that will barely make it pass the 100-seat mark when rules dictate that you need a 272-seat majority to form a government. With all the exit polls within the margin of error, it is anybody game right now and political alliances have already begun to shift without the first vote being counted.

Personally, I have come to accept the fact that UPA may in fact retain power in spite of a horrid record on national security. And I’m fine with it as long as the Left is left out in the cold with their insane and obsolete anti-India beliefs. There ought to be a law that the Prime Minister must be from the party with the largest seat share in an alliance so that way regional parties do not act presumptous and focus only on winning the state they are most likely to. The Prime Minister is a national position and should accordingly represent at least a broader region of the nation however loosely connected. But then as we stand currently, the Prime Minister is not even expected to contest a Lok Sabha election.

Finally, I’m sure although most who are interested in following the results as they stream in will be tempted to stay away due to the shrill 24-hour news channels. I would suggest staying updated using the new and official Indian Elections Results 2009 website. They even have a map feature that pleases the GIS-nerd in me. Ultimately, it is going to be a numbers game and all issues however barely mentioned will be soon forgotten and we’ll be beholdened to our mai-baap political masters for the next 5 years (unless some unreasonable fringe doesn’t get its share of the pie).