I'm not sure if the Indian elections are big news outside of India but you can only imagine the 'hullabaloo' it is creating here. Now, I am no 'political expert' or have a 'political preference' in this election at all, so if you are reading this with that in mind, it might be best to stop now. I am just an Australian living here with some observations on the 'event of the year'.
Firstly, the election will take 5 weeks to actually conduct - I have never hear of such a thing, but am quite please it is not all on a single day. The chaos would be incredible. It started this Monday and will involve about 814,500,000 people having the option to vote - the largest election in the world. This time around, things a bit different with a large majority of voters being in the 25-35 age bracket, with may have a big impact. It works in a phased approach of voting with 9 different areas voting over different periods. Our day in Bangalore is next Thursday - we will be away in Rajasthan - thank goodness !! The schools are closed and it would be best if most non-voters lay low for the day. The voting starts in the remote northern regions and then moves south and west throughout the weeks.
At the end of this process, the result will have the 543 lower house members chosen. The 2 main parties are the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC). The INC, currently in power, have been so since 2004, and for all but 13 of the 67 years of politics. They are the old school party who are currently plagued with issues of high inflation and have had prior scandals of corruption. The BJP, on the other hand, are seen to be the party for the urban middle class and looking for change, targeting the big shift of people moving from the country to the cities.
As you can imagine, the process of determining if there is a general swing is difficult, with so many different cultures, castes and beliefs - and just the pure volume of voters. This election is seen by some as a 'pivotal point' in Indian history. How will India move forward with the next leader?
Narendra Modi is the leader of the BJP, and has had a strong presence while we have been here in India for the last 9 months. We have 'just missed' a number of Modi rallies while we have travelled the country but it is obvious he is a go-getter and very keen on being in the public eye. He was born in to poverty and had a very tumultuous and, then rebellious childhood. Critics of Modi consider him an extremist which was based on the stories that he encouraged attacks on Muslim people after a train fire killed a number of Hindus - he was cleared of any wrong doing but many (largely Muslins) still believe he was behind the attacks. He is quite popular with indian industries who believe that he will drive development and better policies.
The leader of the INC is Rahul Ghandi (Indira Ghandi's grandson), who is Cambridge and Harvard educated, but has very little political experience. He rarely speaks in the media, which is similar to the now Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. Rahul is strong on empowering women and would like to see India as a central hub for manufacturing. We have not heard much from him or seen him much in the press which is very odd leading up to an election.
There is a third party in this race and that is a man by the name of Arvind Kejriwal, who is the founder and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He is a tax inspector turned activist, who is very keen to clean up Indian politics. He is very outspoken in regards to the level of corruption in India and it is his main driver for running.
What will happen - who knows ? The word is that the BJP party will win but with such a huge process to determine this, it is not over, by far !! It will be interesting to see if there is a clear cut winner or if other party members will influence the government coming in.
One a lighter note, the main headline on the election today was that the BJP leader, Modi has finally admitted that he is married, and not a bachelor, but is estranged from his wife. Where else would this sort of headline appear……...
Firstly, the election will take 5 weeks to actually conduct - I have never hear of such a thing, but am quite please it is not all on a single day. The chaos would be incredible. It started this Monday and will involve about 814,500,000 people having the option to vote - the largest election in the world. This time around, things a bit different with a large majority of voters being in the 25-35 age bracket, with may have a big impact. It works in a phased approach of voting with 9 different areas voting over different periods. Our day in Bangalore is next Thursday - we will be away in Rajasthan - thank goodness !! The schools are closed and it would be best if most non-voters lay low for the day. The voting starts in the remote northern regions and then moves south and west throughout the weeks.
At the end of this process, the result will have the 543 lower house members chosen. The 2 main parties are the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC). The INC, currently in power, have been so since 2004, and for all but 13 of the 67 years of politics. They are the old school party who are currently plagued with issues of high inflation and have had prior scandals of corruption. The BJP, on the other hand, are seen to be the party for the urban middle class and looking for change, targeting the big shift of people moving from the country to the cities.
As you can imagine, the process of determining if there is a general swing is difficult, with so many different cultures, castes and beliefs - and just the pure volume of voters. This election is seen by some as a 'pivotal point' in Indian history. How will India move forward with the next leader?
Narendra Modi is the leader of the BJP, and has had a strong presence while we have been here in India for the last 9 months. We have 'just missed' a number of Modi rallies while we have travelled the country but it is obvious he is a go-getter and very keen on being in the public eye. He was born in to poverty and had a very tumultuous and, then rebellious childhood. Critics of Modi consider him an extremist which was based on the stories that he encouraged attacks on Muslim people after a train fire killed a number of Hindus - he was cleared of any wrong doing but many (largely Muslins) still believe he was behind the attacks. He is quite popular with indian industries who believe that he will drive development and better policies.
The leader of the INC is Rahul Ghandi (Indira Ghandi's grandson), who is Cambridge and Harvard educated, but has very little political experience. He rarely speaks in the media, which is similar to the now Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. Rahul is strong on empowering women and would like to see India as a central hub for manufacturing. We have not heard much from him or seen him much in the press which is very odd leading up to an election.
There is a third party in this race and that is a man by the name of Arvind Kejriwal, who is the founder and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He is a tax inspector turned activist, who is very keen to clean up Indian politics. He is very outspoken in regards to the level of corruption in India and it is his main driver for running.
What will happen - who knows ? The word is that the BJP party will win but with such a huge process to determine this, it is not over, by far !! It will be interesting to see if there is a clear cut winner or if other party members will influence the government coming in.
One a lighter note, the main headline on the election today was that the BJP leader, Modi has finally admitted that he is married, and not a bachelor, but is estranged from his wife. Where else would this sort of headline appear……...
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