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Time to vote
As the voters exercise their franchise in the first round of polling yesterday in 222 Lok Sabha constituencies, they have to make up for some of the deficiencies of the campaign. This is mainly because political parties have more or less failed to provide the voters with a clear choice in this election. The pre-poll alliances they have made do not carry conviction as they are either amoral or opportunistic.
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Question of reliability
Now that the Supreme Court has tacitly refused to rule on the standing of opinion and exit polls, the issue has become sublimely ridiculous. Both the media and the Election Commission (EC) are convinced that they have carried the day, simply because the umpire has retired. The writ petitioners claim to have upheld the right of the Press to disseminate information though, going by opinion poll predictions in the last election, the quality of that information would appear to be suspect.
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Coming of age, sort of
This election is a bore. No issues, no leaders, no agenda and, thanks to the glum types at Nirvachan Sadan, not much festivity. But it marks a turning point, for it is the first to be fought in cyberspace. Every outfit with a halfway decent poll ad budget has established a presence up there. National parties are rubbing shoulders with Indian leather exporters, cabinetmakers, travel agents, gewgaw wholesalers and general-purpose mountebanks.
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Where is it all happening?
Travelling in search of an elusive election in the Bihar heartland, one finds instead an undiscovered nation. The election stories drenching the media and speech makers' sleight-of-mouth promises have hardly any relevance to people trapped in scrabbling enough money to light the kitchen fire.
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