03-09-2014, 08:00 PM
As soon as the dates of the next General Election has been announced, both the print and electronic media is full of predictions on the likely outcome of the Elections. Many of the predictions are based on the traditional strong and weak points of the various political formations and individual parties and the past voting patterns in the various constituencies
I would like to submit that since the last General Election the maturity and awareness of the electorate must have increased. In the last five years the literacy rate must have increased and so more electorates can now better analyze the pros and cons of whom to vote. With the growing popularity of the powerful electronic media, all scams, actions and inactions of the various political formations, Governments and individual political leaders are getting highlighted in the public domain. The effect of all these factors in the mind of the ordinary voter cannot be predicted.
The power of the individual voter to decide on what should be the best for the country has increased over the years. So the caste factor and other regiona and local l considerations may not play an important role as in the past elections. Similarly, the communal factor may not be the deciding factor in many of the constituencies. So it is almost impossible to make any realistic estimate of the number of seats each of the major and minor political formations and parties may finally get when the result comes out.
Therefore, a few of the political leaders have correctly stated that the question of forming coalition can only be finalized once the results are finally out. Till than it is all speculation., except for the general impression that NDA will gain more seats than the UPA in the next Lok Sabha.
I would like to submit that since the last General Election the maturity and awareness of the electorate must have increased. In the last five years the literacy rate must have increased and so more electorates can now better analyze the pros and cons of whom to vote. With the growing popularity of the powerful electronic media, all scams, actions and inactions of the various political formations, Governments and individual political leaders are getting highlighted in the public domain. The effect of all these factors in the mind of the ordinary voter cannot be predicted.
The power of the individual voter to decide on what should be the best for the country has increased over the years. So the caste factor and other regiona and local l considerations may not play an important role as in the past elections. Similarly, the communal factor may not be the deciding factor in many of the constituencies. So it is almost impossible to make any realistic estimate of the number of seats each of the major and minor political formations and parties may finally get when the result comes out.
Therefore, a few of the political leaders have correctly stated that the question of forming coalition can only be finalized once the results are finally out. Till than it is all speculation., except for the general impression that NDA will gain more seats than the UPA in the next Lok Sabha.