The Keralites go to the polling booths on 10 Apr when the fate of the 20 parliamentary seats will be decided. The electioneering had drawn to a close this evening around 1800h.
The din of the loudspeakers perched on vehicles, the makeshift 'pandals' that saw the candidates selling their ideas and the participation of the national leaders of various political parties who'd made it a point to canvas for votes on behalf of their candidates had kept the tempo high despite the harsh summer heat. It's also equally interesting to hear popular film songs parodied by all political outfits, asking for votes. The charges and the counter charges traded by the political parties, many a time bordered on the bizarre, stooping to dangerously low levels of propriety and civility.
Except for the campaigning activities of the UDF, the LDF and the BJP that were high on visibility, the other contenders were seldom heard or seen much to the regret of the voters who're looking forward to the interactions with them to understand as to what they rooted for and what prodded them to remain in the fray despite the overwhelming clout(?) the three major political dispensations seemed to have. Sarah Joseph, the prolific writer and the Aam Aadmi Party's candidate didn't seem to have the funds to sustain a high profile campaign. One can never forget the photograph on most of the newspapers that showed rows of empty chairs and tables at a 'fund raising dinner' that the party had organised, earlier on, before the heat of the campaign was picking up.
I suppose Kejriwal and his ideas have not gone down well with the Malayalees or are we going to see something different when the results are declared?
My take.
The queries that bother me after seeing the electioneering, this time, are:-
(a) Why do the political outfits offer us the same candidates time and again? Or 'fresh faces' is a
euphemism for guys with plenty of money power and who're the blue-eyed boys of the powers
that be of all political parties?
(b) Has all of them kept their expenditures within the ceiling of Rs.70 lakhs, as laid down by the EC?
(c) Much has been talked and written about the changes that were sweeping in especially, with the
Delhi elections when the AAP had made an impressive debut. But where have these changes gone?
(d) Or is it that the Malayalees just do not want to change?
Tailpiece.
I'm not gonna make any predictions because psephology is not my cup of tea and neither can I understand as to which way the political winds are blowing. But dispassionately viewing all the candidates in the fray, I think O Rajagopal deserves to win as he's been instrumental in doing a lot for the state when he was the Minister of State, Railways in the Vajpayee cabinet!
The din of the loudspeakers perched on vehicles, the makeshift 'pandals' that saw the candidates selling their ideas and the participation of the national leaders of various political parties who'd made it a point to canvas for votes on behalf of their candidates had kept the tempo high despite the harsh summer heat. It's also equally interesting to hear popular film songs parodied by all political outfits, asking for votes. The charges and the counter charges traded by the political parties, many a time bordered on the bizarre, stooping to dangerously low levels of propriety and civility.
Except for the campaigning activities of the UDF, the LDF and the BJP that were high on visibility, the other contenders were seldom heard or seen much to the regret of the voters who're looking forward to the interactions with them to understand as to what they rooted for and what prodded them to remain in the fray despite the overwhelming clout(?) the three major political dispensations seemed to have. Sarah Joseph, the prolific writer and the Aam Aadmi Party's candidate didn't seem to have the funds to sustain a high profile campaign. One can never forget the photograph on most of the newspapers that showed rows of empty chairs and tables at a 'fund raising dinner' that the party had organised, earlier on, before the heat of the campaign was picking up.
I suppose Kejriwal and his ideas have not gone down well with the Malayalees or are we going to see something different when the results are declared?
My take.
The queries that bother me after seeing the electioneering, this time, are:-
(a) Why do the political outfits offer us the same candidates time and again? Or 'fresh faces' is a
euphemism for guys with plenty of money power and who're the blue-eyed boys of the powers
that be of all political parties?
(b) Has all of them kept their expenditures within the ceiling of Rs.70 lakhs, as laid down by the EC?
(c) Much has been talked and written about the changes that were sweeping in especially, with the
Delhi elections when the AAP had made an impressive debut. But where have these changes gone?
(d) Or is it that the Malayalees just do not want to change?
Tailpiece.
I'm not gonna make any predictions because psephology is not my cup of tea and neither can I understand as to which way the political winds are blowing. But dispassionately viewing all the candidates in the fray, I think O Rajagopal deserves to win as he's been instrumental in doing a lot for the state when he was the Minister of State, Railways in the Vajpayee cabinet!
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