Voter's Dilemma

Even after the completion of the second phase of polling for the 15th Lok Sabha,the picture is still not clear.In this second phase the differences within the UPA have become grave and the existing gap between the parties has widened, which had become evident from the first phase itself.This is so because in UP,Bihar and other states,poll alliance between Congress and other important UPA parties could not take place,as a result of which seats were not divided among them.Thus , from a single parliamentary constituency in Bihar, there is a candidate from BJP, Congress as well as RJD. The Communist Parties also, could not form any alliances with either Congress or RJD, so their candidates are also contesting in the election. On the other hand BJP and JD(United) are contesting these elections together.In the same way in Jharkand the UPA parties are up against each other. In Uttar Pradesh the condition has become even more delicate because BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP are competing with each other. If we take a look, BJP's vote bank is safe but non-BJP vote bank is divided in more or less three places. Results from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar will create a new scenario. Jharkhand also carries good weightage. On the other hand in Orissa, in the last elections there was fierce battle between UPA and NDA, this time it is a fight between BJP, Congress and the third front. Which means that BJP is alone on one side and the Congress and the third front on the other. The picture in Assam is more or less the same. In the south, at some places it is one on one contest and at other places the dispersion of votes is clearly visible.

In Kerala, outwardly there are two fronts UDF and LDF but several other forces are also there. In Karnataka, BJP has become one of the biggest political power, here also on one side is BJP and its allies and on the other side there is Congress and the third front too. In Andhra Pradesh, there is a close contest between Congress, BJP and TDP. BJP, Congress, Shiva Sena and Nationalist Congress Party are the main contesting parties in Maharashtra. In Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, there will be one on one fight between Congress and BJP. The condition in Rajasthan and Gujrat is more or less the same. In Punjab there is Congress with BJP-Akali Dal alliance as their opponent. In Tamil Nadu, Congress and its allies and the third front allies are up against each other.But a clear trend in favour on any party or alliance is not seen anywhere. The situation in North East is not very clear. Although all the political parties spoke about contesting elections on the basis of issues but no such thing came forward as yet. Wherein the first phase all the bigger political parties spent their energies in creating a character sketch of the opponent leaders, herein the second phase differences between the UPA parties have increased and now the situation has reached such a point where the RJD chief is strongly criticizing the Congress and on the other hand the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister are accusing the RJD chief in reply. Similar is the case with the other UPA allies, the left wing considers both Congress and BJP as equally bad. This is a strange situation, as a result of which bitterness is increasing and so also the voter's dilemma.

25/04/09 Editorial by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Asma Anjum Siddiqui