THE first phase of India’s 15th general election commenced on Thursday across 17 Indian
states — from Kashmir in the north to Kerala in the south — marking the start of the world’s biggest democratic poll. The voting for the Lok Sabha, or the lower house of the Indian Parliament, will be held in five phases that will require nearly a month to complete, involving 714 million registered voters who will cast their ballot in more than 8 million polling stations. Streets across Indian towns and cities are festooned with political banners, buntings and flags, and the marathon election process features hundreds of political parties, veteran leaders and a colorful spectrum of Bollywood and cricket stars. Since the previous election in 2004, more young people
— approximately 43 million new voters
— are expected to cast their ballot.

Unlike the American presidential system, Indian elections are not dominated by a single personality. In the fray are several independent candidates and hundreds of political parties. Analysts predict neither the ruling Congress Party nor the opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party will win enough seats to rule alone — a situation which has been the norm since 1989. And a coalition government is inevitable, analysts say. “It will be a coalition government again,” says Mr Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. “But it is hard to predict which combination will form the government.” In the fray are three main alliances: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), dominated by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty led Congress party; the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is a loose coalition of parties led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); and the Third Front, a loose alliance of left-leaning and regional parties. Once the final results are declared on
May 16, in a bid to forge post poll alliances,political parties could indulge in good old fashioned backroom deals and horse trading. The leading candidates for Prime Minister are both veterans. The incumbent, Mr Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party, is 76, while his main challenger, the BJP’s Lal Krishna Advani, is even older at 81. In the event neither the UPA or NDA can
obtain a majority, the Third Front could emerge as a power broker. The group comprises of
Ms Mayawati, a member of the Dalit — or “untouchable” — caste, who could emerge as
the Prime Minister if her Bahujan Samaj Party does exceptionally well. Her party has fielded
more than 500 candidates all over India, the highest number by any political party.

The Maoist agitation

This marathon election process demands formidable security measures. In view of the Mumbai terrorist attack last year, which claimed 166 lives, security has been beefed up in these elections. About 250,000 paramilitary forces are handling election security. The pressure on security forces is so intense that the avidly-watched Indian Premier League, the popular Twenty20 cricket programme, was shifted out of India because it clashed with the poll dates. But despite the stringent security, Maoist rebels, called Naxalites, on Thursday attacked nearly a dozen polling stations across Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa, all rebelprone states in eastern India, killing 17 people, including five election officials and 10 security personnel. They set afire some of the polling booths and snatched electronic voting machines, and blocked roads leading to polling stations, thus disrupting the democratic process. The rebel attacks are symptomatic of the difficulty in holding elections freely and fairly in this crowded democracy of 1.2 billion. This Maoist insurgency, active in 156 districts across 13 Indian states, is perceived to be the most serious internal security threat in India. The deteriorating economic situation,
which threatens to relegate millions of Indians back to poverty after a decade of growth,
is also a key voting plank in these elections, political pundits say.

It ’s all about the money

India’s Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimates that Indian businesses
could lay off nearly 25 per cent of their workforce this year, across sectors such as information
technology, real estate, construction, aviation and financial services. About 40 million middle-class workers are employed by these sectors. India’s Labour Ministry estimates that the small-business sector — which accounts for more than 60 per cent of economic activity — lost about half a million jobs in the December quarter. In these elections, the spectre of job losses,
expected to invite sharp electoral losses, is worrying the Congress-led UPA government. Mr Advani, the leader of the opposition BJP in India’s Parliament, recently said that job cuts
due to the global recession were posing “more danger than terrorism”. There is fear that mass layoffs could spark off social turmoil in this crowded democracy of 1.13 billion people. “The deteriorating economy will certainly have an impact on the electorate,” Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of India’s Planning Commission, said in an interview. “There will be no surprises on that front.” In a pre-election nationwide poll conducted in January by CNN IBN, a private news channel, 32 per cent of Indians cited the flailing economy and inflation as their top concerns. But Mr Yogendra Yadav, a senior fellow at Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, who helped conduct that poll, says he wouldn’t link that assertion
to the global economic meltdown. “If we had conducted the poll a year ago, when the economy was booming, we would have got the same response,” he said. Less than 10 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion people work in the organised sector, which is directly impacted by the global meltdown. “India’s economic boom bypasses the rest,” he said, “and they are not impacted by
the global slowdown. For them livelihood, poverty and a lack of purchasing power were issues in all previous elections. And it’s no different this time.”

Review:

In my opinion, India's democratic government has been based on a popularity contest rather than that of choosing a government where they can run the country. It can be seen that many of the candidates are mostly Bollywood stars or cricket players. It is true that India does have a history of being democratic. But with such kind of government, is it a benefit or is it a liability to India.

Futhermore, it can always be seen in the government of India that there are many conflicts. Question is that who is to blame? Answer, Nobody. This is so due to the simple fact that the government is always a 'Salad', never once is it cabinet rule by a majority but comprises of many parties mix to become one. This will cause conflict as different parties will have their own unique way to rule a nation.

Next, in this upcoming elections, 43m new people are going to vote. However, the illiteracy rate in India is 39% means in every 100 people, 39 people will vote who they are told to vote. Besides that, many of the people suffer from poverty, hence, the people will also vote for the government which will give them the most incentive rather then a government who will keep the nation safe.

Besides that, the reports also state of communist activities in many areas. This area have a large concentration of people who are in poverty. Yet the current government is not doing anything to help improve that area, causing it to be neglected and the loss of power to the communist. Even if the communist were once For-Democrats, with no improvement to the conditions, the people feel that they are not treated well enough. They will find substitutes who will help them improve their living conditions like the communist. Thus the formation of such communist-prone state is the cause of the inefficient democracy system of India.

Last but not least, economy for India has finally hit a U-turn. Its boom period is over and now it faces a recession (like the rest of the world), to such a poor country which main finance comes from small medium enterprises(SME/s), many of such SMEs have decide to fold up to prevent loss. They did prevent their personal loss but the stat of India do face a loss of over 1.13b due to the closure of the SMEs. The government has given incentives, but they are just too little for the public, hence the deciding factor of the this year election will be which parties will be able to solve the economic, social and even political problems that already exist in India.

Posted by: Ben =D