- The Dance of Democracy in the Indian context is truly up and running with the announcement of the Lok Sabha poll dates by the Election Commission of India recently. The much-awaited exercise to carry out the mother of all elections has kick-started in earnest with this announcement. As is its wont, the ruling dispensation at the Centre did all it could leading up to the announcement date by announcing a slew of projects worth thousands of crores around the country. Not to be left behind, several regional parties too did what they could vis-à-vis socio-welfare measure announcements targeting certain vote banks to impress upon the electorate before the big elections. Now the focus shifts to the grueling but most exciting part.
PC: Money Control
- With the announcement of the election dates, the model code of conduct came into effect immediately. For the next two months or so, the administration around the country will focus on conducting free and fair elections with a massive deployment of men and material resources. The beauty of the Indian democratic system is the way our political parties go about impressing the electorate using manifestos that delineate promises, inducements, incentives, assurances, reassurances, and generally building dreams with even more socio-economic welfare announcements. Yes, we are aware of how the political narrative in the country is largely built on the labyrinthine caste equations. This will be on display full throttle in the coming weeks.
- Of course, the political narrative in the country is also banking on the assiduously built vote banks that would be extremely challenging for any layman to comprehend. But the major political parties in the fray would feel they have managed to crack the not-so-easily comprehensible caste conundrum. Those who are closely following the fortunes of the political narrative would be aware of how the two major national parties viz. the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have gone about forming alliances to take on the other. Thus, the NDA/INDIA bloc versus UPA fight will be the one to look out for apart from the direct fight between the BJP and the regional parties in several states as well. This only adds to the intrigue surrounding the political narrative, you see.
PC: NDTV
- As things stand presently, the BJP led by the indefatigable, charismatic, and hugely popular Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to be ahead. Of course, the NDA claiming to have delivered on manifesto promises is not only true but also finds wide acceptance among the electorate for its various citizen-friendly initiatives having reached the intended beneficiaries. The Congress-led bloc is apparently in disarray with several regional satraps going their way. The unity efforts of the opposition block have fallen apart and it needs to be seen how the BJP’s electoral juggernawilluld be stymied in the coming weeks. Indeed, brace up for the most entertaining part of the election campaign which will be relentless and engaging too from now on.
