Friday, April 25, 2014

LS Elections 2014 - Observations

As a school going boy, I remember that I was the most politically challenged person. I had no clue about political parties, their functioning and even the process of our Indian political system. I was so naive that I  did not even knew the difference between the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. I think I was never even motivated to look for answers. Those were relatively easier times, I guess.

Fast forward to 2014. Not only do I know the Indian political and election system today, I also know the complete election process and political scenario of two foreign lands, USA and Germany. Time fly so fast that I find it unbelievable sometimes. I am a person who hates politics to the core, yet I find it hard to explain myself, why do I need to know all these things. Maybe, I have a large appetite for useless things.

Anyways, after collecting the candidate data from major political parties in India, I came across many interesting facts. Either I am still naive to notice them or either I just over analyze stuff. I thought of compiling the points which I found quite amusing. For some readers it might be redundant or useless information. To some extent, BJP is an exception but INC and AAP are guilty of same.

1. Something which I found particularly frustrating was that almost all political parties change their declared candidates without officially announcing it separately in their press releases. This makes it very difficult to track the changes. They simply update their complete list without highlighting the individual updates.

2. Last weekend, I saw a glimpse of a TV interview of MNS chief Raj Thackeray with Rajdeep Sardesai while visiting a friend. He quite bluntly said that non Maharashtrians should not live or work in Maharashtra, thereby standing against anything foreign. It was amusing to see the website of MNS not only in Marathi but also in English. Shiv Sena on the other hand has its website only in Marathi, making it almost impossible to read it for a non Marathi speaking person.

3. It was also quite a let down to see Telugu Desam Party's website. Majority of it was in Telugu and surprisingly no list of candidates. The same go for the YSR Congress Party website. This is the reason why I have no list of candidates from AP in my list. I cannot comment much on YSR but was quite disappointed to see such an unprofessional looking website of TDP, a party with a man who was responsible for bringing IT to AP and thus helping the state in a big way.

4. I was quite impressed by the regional parties of UP like BSP and SP maintaining their websites in a professional way, although for a long time they did not updated it with the list of candidates or any information regarding the LS elections 2014.

5. I was also very impressed by other regional parties like TMC, CPI(M), BJD running and updating their websites professionally. Something I observed and which amused me looking at the footnote on the CPI(M) website was a phrase, labeled "Support Free Software". Quite in line with the party's ideologies. And who could have imagined RJD also maintaining a website, that as well in English. At least, not me.

6. As a general comment, I could see INC making all the correct noise on its website against their biggest rivals, i.e. the BJP in the run up to the election but did not see all those points converting into news on mainstream media. I think INC is missing a good spokesperson. BJP website on the other hand is only about its prime ministerial candidate with his corporate type graphs and bullet points for development.

I find it funny or rather a paradox when I see the current political situation and the definition of the process of electing a prime minister which states: The elected members of the majority party of the Lok Sabha "elect" the prime minister of India. Apparently, that prime ministerial candidate is already decided even before the elections actually takes place. Democracy is so overrated !

P.S: I am not inclined to any political party.

The road to power is paved with  hypocrisy and casualties. Never regret ! - Francis J. Underwood (House of Cards)

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

List - W


INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
TMC: Trinamool Congress
CPI: Communist Party of India
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

List - U






INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
SP: Samajwadi Party
BSP: Bahujan Samajwadi Party
RLD: Rashtriya Lok Dal
TMC: Trinamool Congress
CPI: Communist Party of India
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Monday, April 7, 2014

List - T


INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
AIADMK: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
DMK: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
TMC: Trinamool Congress
CPI: Communist Party of India
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

List - R, S


INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
JD(U): Janta Dal United
TMC: Trinamool Congress
CPI: Communist Party of India
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

List - N, O, P


INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
BJD: Biju Janta Dal
SAD(Badal): Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal)
TMC: Trinamool Congress
CPI: Communist Party of India
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

List - M






INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
SP: Samajwadi Party
NCP: Nationalist Congress Party
MNS: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
JD(U): Janta Dal United
TMC: Trinamool Congress
CPI: Communist Party of India
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Friday, April 4, 2014

List - K, L


INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
JD(S): Janta Dal Secular
TMC: Trinamool Congress
CPI: Communist Party of India
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

List - H, J


INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
JD(U): Janta Dal United
JMM: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
NCP: Nationalist Congress Party
JKNC: Jammu Kashmir National Congress
TMC: Trinamool Congress
CPI: Communist Party of India
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

List - G


INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
JD(U): Janta Dal United
NCP: Nationalist Congress Party
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

List - C, D


INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
TMC: Trinamool CongressCPI: Communist Party of India
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

List - B


INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
RJD: Rashtriya Janta Dal
JD(U): Janta Dal (United)
LJP: Lok Janshakti Party
TMC: Trinamool Congress

Thursday, April 3, 2014

List - A


INC: Indian National Congress
BJP: Bhartiya Janta Party
AAP: Aam Aadmi Party
TMC: Trinamool Congress
CPI: Communist Party of India
CPI(M): Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Flavor of the moment

It gives me mixed feelings about India and its people in the run up to the latest elections. It makes me feel sad, happy, excited, afraid, ... all at the same time specially after observing the kind of behavior my friends are showing on Facebook. Even sitting miles away from India, I feel like I am in the middle of the battlefield with people already armed with their ideas so strong that they make the walls of the steel vaults of banks look like kitepaper. How informed/misinformed they are in making up such opinions is a completely another ball game.

I felt a bit left out after seeing many people online voicing their opinions to favor or against a particular political party. I wanted to throw in some of my thoughts as well but then felt like doing some research first. Amazingly, I found out that one of the basic things for elections is completely missing. No news website, blogger, tweeter, facebooker or even some political parties have released a complete list of their candidates online. Thus, there is no official source of candidates name for some political parties on their official websites. So, I thought that before I comment on anything, it is very important to first make a list of all constituencies and the different candidates contesting from them. It would give a better and clear picture of the upcoming elections. So, in the next few days, I will try to compile the list from whatever online sources I can get my hand on.

Some might argue that it is a futile attempt which does not solve anything. For me, it would be a learning exercise and might use that list as a betting game to predict who could win from where.

Wish me luck !!