Latest News about Indian Politics and Elections 2009, Indian Politicians

Priyanka Gandhi sure of better performance by Congress

votethiselections — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:38:21 +0000

New Delhi, May 7: Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Thursday asserted that the party’s performance in the 14th Lok Sabha polls will be better than that in the last election.

“I think there will be improvement, at least that is what we hope,” Gandhi told reporters after casting her vote at a polling booth in Lodhi Estate here.

Dressed in a casual t-shirt and jeans, Gandhi came to the polling booth along with her husband Robert Vadra.

Eight states, along with Delhi, are going to vote in the fourth and penultimate phase of the general elections Thursday.

Gandhi expressed hope that Congress will bag all the seven seats of the capital.

Asking people to come out and vote, Gandhi said: “I hope they will be voting for a party and prime minister, who are serious about development and are ready to take the country forward.”

When asked about post-poll alliances, she said: “We will see after May 16.” (IANS)

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India goes to cast its vote today

votethiselections — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:37:17 +0000

New Delhi, May 7: Polling stations opened Thursday morning across eight states for the fourth and penultimate round of elections to the Lok Sabha that are widely expected to produce a hung parliament.

A total of 85 constituencies are to elect MPs from Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Rajastan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

About 95 million people will be eligible to vote Thursday, taking the total number of seats polled since the start of staggered election April 16 to 457.

The Election Commission has set up 129,103 polling centres, to be overseen by 650,000 officials.

Among the heavyweights in the fray in this round are External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and former chief ministers Rajnath Singh (Bharatiya Janata Party), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Mulayam Singh (Samajwadi Party), Lalu Prasad (Rashtriya Janata Dal).

While only Srinagar constituency will see polling in Jammu and Kashmir, balloting will take place for all 25 seats in Rajasthan, all seven seats in Delhi and all 10 in Haryana.

Four of the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of Punjab also go to the polls Thursday along with 18 out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, three out of 40 in Bihar and 17 out of 42 in West Bengal.

The elections will conclude May 13. The votes will be counted across the country May 16. (IANS)

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Four hours, 18 percent and counting, in Delhi

votethiselections — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:29:35 +0000

New Delhi, May 7: The capital witnessed nearly 18 percent voter turnout in the first four hours of polling even as poll officials expressed optimism that the not-so-hot day would see more people coming out as the hours passed.

Polling began at 7 a.m. across the 11,348 polling booths in the capital. The number of eligible voters is about 11.09 million – nearly four million of them in the age group of 18-29.

Till 11 a.m., 17.53 percent of voters had exercised their franchise. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit were among the early birds.

“Voting is going very smoothly in all polling stations. Weather is not very hot so we can expect a lot of people to turn up. Shades and water have been made available at all the polling stations,” said Delhi Election Commission chief Satbir Silas Bedi.

The highest turnout was recorded in East Delhi at 23.9 percent and the lowest was recorded in Northwest Delhi at 13.28 percent. Chandni Chowk recorded 14 percent, Northeast Delhi 19.5 percent, New Delhi 15 percent, West Delhi 17 percent and South Delhi witnessed 20.5 percent of polling.

Besides Sonia Gandhi and Dikshit, the first few hours saw a turnout by other high profile voters like Vice President Hamid Ansari, former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Sonia Gandhi’s daughter and son-in-law Priyanka and Robert Vadra.

“I hope they (the Delhi voters) will be voting for a party and prime minister, who are serious about development and are ready to take the country forward,” Priyanka Gandhi said when she came to vote at the Lodhi Estate polling station near her home.

Sonia Gandhi exercised her franchise at the Nirman Bhawan polling station where she was accompanied by Dikshit and Ajay Maken, Congress candidate from the New Delhi constituency.

“Here is the responsibility to go out and vote. I guess the young are very enthusiastic to vote here,” Dikshit said while urging the Delhi voters to come out and vote.

Dikshit’s son and sitting MP Sandeep Dikshit is contesting from the East Delhi constituency. He cast his vote at the Pandara Road polling station.

“Congress will win on all seats and I’m confident that people in Delhi will come out in large numbers to vote,” union minister Maken said.

With low voter turnout in Mumbai making national headlines, SMS messages asking people to vote were doing the rounds.

One such read: “Vote Now! Please cast your vote immediately. Today is not a holiday. Your contribution to India. Don’t be a Pappu. Spread this to as many as possible.”

A total of 160 candidates are in the fray this time, compared to 129 in the 2004 elections.

The contest is mainly between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

More than 73,000 officials are conducting the voting. To ensure free and fair elections, 56,000 police personnel are deployed across the capital.

A total of 193 polling stations have been identified as sensitive and 32 as hyper-sensitive.

The polling will end at 5 p.m. The votes will be counted May 16. (IANS)

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Left support to depend on the number game

votethiselections — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:28:48 +0000

New Delhi, May 6: Senior Congress leader and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday said that support from the Left parties for government formation would depend on the numbers game after the elections.

Asked if his party would accept Left support on the condition of him being prime minister Mukherjee told NDTV in an interview: “No, what would happen after the elections will depend on numbers.

“After all, ours is a multi-party system. Which political party holds how many seats in a vast electorate of more than 710 million voters, it is very difficult to make any assessment, precise assessment before the poll results are out and even two phases elections have not yet taken place,” Mukherjee maintained.

About re-looking the India-US civilian nuclear deal as a pre-condition by the Left for a post-poll aliance, Mukherjee said: “It is very difficult to say right now what will be the conditions. How can I predict what will be the conditions, what is to be re-looked….I am neither ruling out nor saying that it is possible. I am simply saying that I don’t know what do they want and what is to be re-looked.”

He also asserted that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) “is a terrorist organisation” and added that his government has been asking for the extradition of its chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, every year.

Turning to the political equation in West Bengal, Mukherjee said he was confident of the Trinamool Congress’s support for forming a Congress-led government at the centre.

“I do not want to make any comment on any individual party’s future approach. But this much I have taken note of that, she (Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee) started distancing herself from NDA (National democratic Alliance) for quite some time. For instance, she did not support the (NDA) presidential and vice presidential candidates in 2007 July,” Mukherjee said.

“She did not join the bandwagon in July 2008 against the trust motion (in parliament) and when the seat adjustment was announced, she along with me stated on camera that in future she will support a secular, progressive, nationalist government at the centre. I have depended on that,” Mukherjee added. (IANS)

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Pray tell us Allah who do we vote for!

votethiselections — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:48:56 +0000

New Delhi, May 5: With each election, Muslims in India are getting as unpredictable as the others and vote depending on local conditions. And most of them prefer a secular party, a study shows.

Several parties, including the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, are desperately wooing Muslims in the ongoing Lok Sabha poll, which is expected to produce a badly hung parliament.

Surprisingly, as many as 25 percent of Muslim voters in Karnataka chose the BJP in the 2004 election although it is identified as pro-Hindu, says the study, conducted by the Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS).

Based on a survey of over 27,000 Muslims, the study said that Left parties and the BJP averaged seven percent of the Muslim vote each.

Sanjeer Alam, who carried out part of the survey, revealed: “In all 53 percent of Muslims (voted in 2004). Some 37 percent preferred the Congress. Along with its allies, it got 53 percent.”

The study noted that Muslims, the country’s largest minority, voted for all major political parties.

Muslims vote for different parties depending on regional conditions and local aspirations, according to Shireen Moosvi, professor of Indian history at the Aligarh Muslim University.

“I don’t think Muslims ever voted en bloc for one single party in India,” she said. “Muslims don’t even form a particular class. Aspirations of a lower class Muslim are different from an upper class in the same city, and they vote accordingly.”

Moosvi also said that though Muslims largely preferred secular parties, they have factored local conditions and rooted for BJP candidates in some areas.

Young Muslims are clear about their aspirations. They want job security, development and safety.

Sadia Khan, 21, who studies at New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia university, feels that economic stability and safety were her prime concerns. “Any Muslim is first an Indian and like every other Indian, development and economic stability is my foremost concern.

“After the Gujarat riots, I would not vote for a party like the BJP which has leaders like Narendra Modi. So, safety is another priority,” said Khan.

Ubaid-ur-Rehman, 29, a PhD scholar in Jamia Millia Islamia, said there was no difference between political parties playing divisive agenda in India and the Taliban.

“The BJP has not dropped its agenda of divisive politics. They are no different from the Taliban. It’s better to keep such parties out of power,” he said.

Muslims also challenge the popular perception that clerics determine whom the community should vote for.

“We don’t issue any ‘fatwa’ telling them whom to vote for,” echoed Maulana Khaleeq Ahmad Madrasi, pro-vice chancellor of Darul Uloom seminary in Deoband town of Uttar Pradesh.

Historian Irfan Habib too feels that local conditions rather than the injunctions of clerics influence the voting decision. “Muslims are not influenced by clerics. Several factors, especially regional conditions, play a major role,” said Habib.

But Muslims complain that they have not been given their due by any ruling party.

Businessman Shahid Ahmad said: “The political parties that have been in power have done little for the community. They are responsible for the pitiable conditions of the community. There is very little representation of the community in the legislature or bureaucracy.”

The 38-year-old Ahmad asked: “With such a track record of our political parties, tell me whom I should vote for?” (IANS)

The last campaign

votethiselections — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:45:47 +0000

New Delhi, May 5: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is to address a rally here in a last minute effort to woo voters before campaigning for parliamentary elections in Delhi ends Tuesday evening.

A total of 160 candidates are in the fray for the capital’s seven Lok Sabha seats. Thursday’s exercise will be spread over 11,348 polling booths.

Keeping the summer heat in mind, the Election Commission has arranged for potable water and tents for the benefit of voters at polling booths.

A total of 293 booths have been identified as “sensitive” and “hypersensitive” — official euphemism to mean they could see violence, said Deputy Chief Electoral Officer J.K. Sharma.

The Delhi Police will deploy Quick Reaction Teams, specially around sensitive booths. (IANS)

Not a very power-sharing culture

votethiselections — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:42:55 +0000

Karnal (Haryana), May 5: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani Tuesday attacked the Congress saying that the party had no culture of sharing power.

Addressing a rally in favour of the BJP candidate I.D. Swami in this Haryana town, Advani said it was the BJP that had shared power with other parties at the centre.

“The Congress has no culture of sharing power at the centre. The Congress has ruled alone for nearly 50 years. It is the BJP which has worked successfully with coalition partners,” Advani said.

“The 20th century may have belonged to America or Britain. We will ensure that the 21st century belongs to India,” he said.

The BJP leader said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had failed to tackle issues like terrorism, economy and poverty.

If voted to power, Advani said, the BJP -led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would introduce a pension scheme for farmers. He added that the NDA would also ensure that all loans of farmers are waived. (IANS)

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Not so urban: it’s a village after all!

votethiselections — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:57:56 +0000

New Delhi, May 3: Urban villages are oxymorons in every way. Lok Sabha elections are another ritual for Mariam. She does not know who is contesting for the May 7 poll in the capital. No campaigner has bothered to go down her lane in Bawana, an “urban village” in northwest Delhi.

She is only sure of one thing. “Main to haath pe hi muhar lagaungi (I’ll put my stamp only on the hand).” That is the poll symbol of the Congress party.

Mariam is one of the millions living in the 135 urban villages of the capital. Like most of them, she does not think the next MP will address her woes. “Whoever comes to power, our problems will not be addressed. We have no means of livelihood, nothing.”

Like the other urban villages of the capital, Bawana shows the contradiction of the term that is beloved of officialdom. Houses are brick and mortar and usually have at least three floors, but they have no water supply. Women have to walk kilometres with pots on their heads to fetch water, or men have to carry it back in cans slung on their two-wheelers.

The original owners of the land have sold them to realtors and bought swanky cars, which are stabled next to their buffaloes as they continue with their dairy business.

Delhi’s urban villages are so-called because they are no longer surrounded by farmland. They are areas where municipal planning rules do not apply and so people can build as they like. The obverse is that basic municipal services like roads, water supply and drainage are few and far between.

Najafgarh is another urban village that demonstrates lack of good roads and public transport links.

“We have got a Delhi Metro depot in our area but not a Metro station,” rued resident Deep Arora. “The nearest Metro station is in Dwarka. So we still have to commute by (private) blueline buses.

“Traffic snarls are routine as traffic to Gurgaon and Bahadurgarh pass through the area. Moreover there are no red lights or traffic policemen. Roads are also in very bad shape.” Arora does not expect the polls to bring any change either. (IANS)

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Vijaykant – the new MGR of Tamil Nadu politics?

votethiselections — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:56:16 +0000

Chennai, May 4: All eyes are trained on the 56-year-old Tamil movie hero-turned-politician Vijaykant and his party DMDK in these Lok Sabha polls. Known as “Karuppu (Black) MGR”, political circles are debating the impact of the ‘V’ (Vijaykant) factor on their fortunes. Balloting will be held for all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu May 13.

The DMDK is hoping to increase its vote share to 20 percent in this ballot, up from the 8.3 percent it got in the 2006 assembly elections, the DMDK’s K. Pandiarajan told IANS.

Can Vijaykant repeat what hero-turned-politician M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) achieved in the 1970s and 1980s?

MGR, who founded the AIADMK in 1972, was the first Indian film hero to get elected as chief minister (in 1977), sowing political ambitions in several movie stars across the country.

However it was only N.T. Rama Rao (NTR) in Andhra Pradesh who was able to match MGR in floating a new party and capturing power.

Comparing Vijaykant with MGR, a leader of a national party said on condition of anonymity: “Vijaykant is attracting MGR’s vote base – Dalits, youth and the middle class. Today the middle class is divided among the DMK, the Congress and the AIADMK. The DMDK may get around 100,000 votes in each constituency. It will be interesting whose vote the DMDK would eat into – the DMK’s or the AIADMK’s.”

There are others who say Vijaykant cannot be compared with MGR — as a movie star or even as a politician.

According to them, MGR was the number one hero during his time and most of his movies were great hits. In contrast, Vijaykant, even at his peak, was ranked only after Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan and not all his movies were blockbusters.

MGR used his movies not only to build an impeccable image for himself but also spread his political message even when he was in the DMK before he launched the AIADMK.

So strong was his appeal that when he was expelled from the DMK in 1972 for asking the party to make its accounts public, people believed him and voted him to power — and he ruled for a decade until his death in 1987.

“In those days people were innocent. NTR was considered Vishnu’s reincarnation after playing roles like Rama and Krishna. With the advent of satellite channels and the increase in literacy levels, it is very difficult to cultivate that kind of image,” said a political activist.

S. Thirunavukarasar, the BJP national secretary and a long time member of the AIADMK, told IANS: “MGR was in a different era. When the AIADMK was floated by him, the DMK was the only major force in the state. The Congress didn’t have a leader with mass appeal. Today there are several political parties.”

Congress MP E.N. Sudarsana Nachiappan said: “Votes for Vijaykant are akin to invalid votes. Only in certain constituencies does his party have chances of getting something near 20 percent votes. The people of Tamil Nadu can differentiate between state and central elections.”

Echoing similar views, BJP Tamil Nadu unit president L. Ganesan said: “He (Vijaykant) is trying to create an impression that he is the alternative to the DMK and the AIADMK. That is a farce.” (IANS)
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Voting despite ‘graveyard shifts’

votethiselections — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:15:42 +0000

New Delhi, May 4: Despite their erratic time schedules and the fact that most of their employers are not giving them a day off May 7, most youngsters working in the BPO industry in the capital are determined to take time out that day to exercise their right to vote in these elections.

Aditi Gupta, a 22-year-old working with IBM, a business outsourcing unit based in Gurgaon, said that on poll day here, her “graveyard” shift – which means that she has to work through the night – will end at 8 a.m. Therefore she will go to cast her vote with her friend later in the day.

“Not going to cast my vote is out of the question. For days, I have been having animated discussions on the political scenario with my father and some of my friends. Therefore I will definitely use this opportunity to exercise my right,” says Gupta, who lives with her family in Greater Kailash in south Delhi.

“After my shift ends at 8 a.m., I will reach home that day only by 9-9.30 a.m. Therefore I will not be able to go to the polling booth with the rest of my family, who will go early before the day gets hot. I will catch up on my sleep and then go there with one of my friends.”

Puneet Raheja, assistant manager in Genpact, said: “Generally I am a very lazy person and under normal circumstances I would not have made any special effort to go and vote. But this time I have decided to vote no matter what because our country is facing a grim situation.

“Recession, national security, corruption … the issues are endless. I specifically don’t want the Samajwadi Party (SP) to win because they spoke against computer education and the use of English. Because of the two, I have a job today,” adds Raheja.

Vidushi Bhatia, a 20-year-old working as a quality analyst with Noida-based firm ienergizer, said: “Come what may I will vote for sure. However, some of my friends are not really bothered about the whole election process. Specific awareness campaigns should have been designed for people working in the BPO industry.”

According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), over 1.1 million people are currently employed in the BPO industry. And a significant number of them are below the age of 30. The industry is expected to employ 2.5-3 million professionals by 2010, contributing 7-8 percent of the national GDP.

One of the main reasons discouraging the BPO industry from coming out to vote is their work schedule.

“My shift these days starts at midnight and I get free only by 10.30 a.m. By the time I reach home, it’s already noon. After that all that I am bothered about is taking a shower and catching up on my sleep. To add to that it’s so hot these days – therefore I am not sure if I will have enough motivation to step out of the house in the afternoon to go and cast my vote,” said Abhishek Sharma (name changed on request), training with Midland in Gurgaon.

“Had we been given a day off on that day, it would have been a different story,” he added.

According to Nasscom, BPOs are not obliged to give the day off to their employees.

“It depends on the company if it wants to give a holiday to its employees,” a Nasscom official said. (IANS)

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