Its Election time.Clearly the Indian political league has taken over the Indian Premier League as Cricket has to move to South Africa now.Though it’s a bit disappointing but better safe than sorry.(The concerns are genuine when we don’t even have enough security forces to guard elections with looming threat of terrorism)
Now talking about the Elections,as a voter we have three choices broadly in front of us,namely :
United Progressive Alliance(UPA,Congress the leader)
National Democratic Alliance(NDA,BJP the leader)
Third Front(Left parties are the mainstay)
The following factors can influence voters when they cast their votes for the 543 seats of the 15th Lok Sabha,from 16 April to 13 May:
1.The win on the Diplomacy front of the UPA(Pak accepting its soil used for terror).When NDA was in power and attack on parliament happened,all it did was to mobilise forces in operation Parakaram,which resulted in nothing but waste of money.
2.The strong will of Congress led to Indo-US Nuclear Deal coming into effect.Though the foundation of this deal was laid by the NDA.
3.The unemployment is an issue with 5 Lakh jobs lost in India.Mostly it can be blamed on world recession,but people need solutions from our leaders.
4.The prices of food commodities have remained high for most part of the rule of UPA and they are still high though we are staring at Deflation.(Some say its just Disinflation).My mother says price rise was mostly never an issue when NDA ruled.
5.The BJP has raised its communal head again with Varun Gandhi's hate speech and Hindutva being an issue.Now,it may work in their favour but on the moral grounds BJP has lost already in my point of view.On the other hand Congress works all out to introduce caste base quotas and minority appeasement!
6.Everyday the semantics of politics is changing in India.BJD has left NDA.Laloo and Ram Vilas Paswan are virtually fighting against congress in Bihar.So,is Samajwadi Party in UP.PMK has also left UPA.The old partners of NDA like Jayalalita and TDP are moving towards the Third Front!!!!
7.There are too many candidates for the post of Prime Minister.Advani and Manmohan Singh are the front runners.But you never know with Mayawati,Sharad Pawar,Prakash Karat and even Deve Gowda lining up for the post.Now the voters have to keep in mind that who is most trust worthy and able among them.
8.Development is a key issue as we have already seen how Sheila dixit came to power in Delhi and Shiv Raj Chauhan in MP purely on the development plank.The voters are waking up to the performance of the government.
9.Lastly,a stable Govt at the centre is a must.Because if it’s a khichdi Govt then no one can take a stand.The regional aspirations should not over rule the National agenda.This is the key.So,even if a regional party candidate has done well,you may want to vote for a national party x because you want to see it in power and making national policies.
Above were the issues that randomly came to my mind.If you have some more then do tell me as I may cast my precious vote this time.I hope you do the same :)
