Parliamentary Elections 2009

In most of the constituencies in Tamil Nadu DMDK has cornered a major vote share, bigger than the winning margin in most of the constituencies. This trend was observed in 2006 Assembly elections also esp. in constituencies where AIADMK lost. It has repeated again in the 2009 Parliamentary Elections.
So why does DMDK get such a large vote share across the state?
- Is it getting the votes of people tired of voting to the 2 main parties – DMK & AIADMK?
- Is it seen as a party with future potential?
- Will it manage to increase it’s vote share/popularity and covert vote share into seats?

While most parties in Tamil Nadu choose to align with one of the major parties – surprisingly DMDK has gone alone on both occasions and has contested in all the constituencies.
Now the questions arise
- Why is it not aligning with any party?
- Like PMK which initially choose not to align and then started to align and win, will DMDK in future align with one of them?
- how does it manage to fund the cost of elections? esp. given the fact that unofficial cost of elections runs into crores for assembly elections itself.

2011 Assembly elections should be able to give a better insight into the minds of Tamil Nadu Voters and DMDK chief Vijayakant’s strategy.

Most educated people esp. from Middle Salaried Class seem to see use Election Day more as an Holiday rather than a day that when they are given a chance to be part of the Democratic Process.

This apathy to vote is mainly caused by the politicians who are viewed as incompetent lots and is compounded by valid and secure options to show dissent.

Sec.49-O is a good way of showing dissent in the candidates but at the risk of exposing one’s identity to all present in the Polling Booth.

But this should not discourage us from voting or rather excercising our democratic rights.

Options available :

Vote for the Candidate/Party you like/favour.
If none fits the bill, Use Sec. 49-O.
If you feel your privacy is lost by excercising Sec.49-O then vote for an independent candidate or a candidate of a smaller party whom you think is better of than the major parties.

Ideally in a Parliamentary Elections, independents rarely win given the resources they need to campaign and reach to the voters in the vast area in their constituency. But the idea of voting for an independent is more like showing your dissent towards the major parties and at the same time protecting your identity.

A large no. of independents are in fray in these elections – in fact majority of the candidates in Chennai are independents.

So, whatever is your choice, GO OUT AND VOTE on 13th May.
It will take hardly half an hour at the maximum.

Those who had applied for inclusion of there name in the voter list in the last month can check the status at their respective Corporation Zonal Offices.

Please ensure you take the acknowledgement slip with you and also preferrably information about the “part no.”
Part No. is the booklet in which the voter list for your area/street is given.You can find it in the Election Commission Website.

This is a typical scenario faced by the voters. Should I vote based on the Candidate’s profile or the Party’s profile or (latest inclusion) the Alliance’s profile.

Most of us vote for the Party rather than the Candidate. But sometimes Candidate’s image wins over our affiliation towards a Party and we vote for the Candidate.

But given towards fractionism and alliance politices a new dimension has come up. Neither do I like the Candidate or the Party but this party is in alliance with a party whom I like to see running the Government.

So whom do I vote for?

Is it right to vote for the wrong Candidate just because he is in the party I like? and vice-versa…..

Inefficient Election Process is top of every voter’s mind esp. those who don’t vote.  Election Reforms have been slow and rare in our country. In fact most of the rules that have been set today are a result of Judicial Intervention at the Highest Level. There have been even cases when Legislature had sought to bring in new laws to avoid election reforms.

Probably the reason for this pathetic state is that the people for whom the law applies set the law and not others. The politicians set the rules on how the elections should be conducted, who can contest, etc…. and naturally they will set the rules in favour of themselves….

Sample this:
a. Election Commission has recommended that a person, who is accused of serious criminal charges and where Court is prima facie satisfied about his involvement in the crime and consequently framed charges, must be kept out of electoral process.
b. Election Commission has recommended that a person should be allowed to contest from more than one constituency at a time.
c. Commission has recommended that there must be a provision of Negative Voting in the Ballot Paper/ EVM itself
d. Advertisements of achievement of the Governments should be prohibited for a period of six months prior to the date of expiry of the term of the house

Read the complete Pending Election Reform List in this Link (PDF). (NOTE: This list is pending from 2004!!!)

An interesting fact comes out when we analyse the Electoral Rolls in Tamil Nadu.

Surprisingly when more people must be part of the Electoral Rolls, given the fact that our state & country is seeing increasing population levels, the actual no. of voters has reduced in the state since the last Parliamentary Elections.

Elector Details in February 2009

Elector Details in 2004

NOTE: Due to delimitation excercise, the gegraphical boundaries of some of the constituencies have undergone major changes.

There is a marked decrease in the voter count in the constituencies in Chennai and surrounding Districts – the main factor can be attributed to Delimitation excercise. But that doesnot explain how this time we have around 60Lakh LESS voters in the state than in 2004.

This raises a few questions:
a. Where the Electoral Rolls in 2004 rigged with huge no. of fake voters?
b. Or, Is it that this time around, the Voter List excludes Genuine Voters?

This question can be answered by comparing the voter list of a constituency with other databases available with the Government like the Ration Card

The complete list for Tamil Nadu – Constituency can be viewed here 2004, 2009

UPDATE:

Voter Count for Tamil Nadu in 2006 Assembly Elections was as below:
Male:          23113794
Female:     23489558
Total:         46603352 (more than 2009’s rolls)

I was watching the INDIA DECIDES @ 9 program on NDTV today. Media seems to find ways out of every regulation/rule. Election Commission has banned Opinion Polls & Exit Polls, but in this program NDTV coined a new term – BOOKIE’s Bets. It showed what are the odds of the 2 major parties in this elections according to the MUMBAI BOOKIES.

Betting is banned in India. If NDTV has come in contact with Bookies, it should have reported it to the Law enforcement Agencies and not promote betting by showing it on the Channel.

Another interesting thing was the way NDTV show cased the Inflation figures. It found a way to show that Inflation has fallen in the last six months. Probably the achor Dr. Prannoy Roy is not in touch with the reality. At the ground level prices are still ruling high, in fact for some items they have risen in the last 2-3months. The Inflation figures that the Government boasts off is unrealistic even at the Wholesale level.

Common Man knows this better. Dr. Roy time for some responsible journalism.

Stalin, Minister for Rural Development and Local Administration, TN has issued a statement that Dr.Karunanithi, Chief Minister of TN has saved the state from the economic recession engulfing the country & the world by his people-centric policies like increasing Government spend on subsidies and welfare schemes. (READ THE ARTICLE HERE)
Probably Mr.Stalin is forgetting that even before India started to see the impact of Global Economic Recession, Tamil Nadu was feeling the impact due to loss of productivity due to pro-longed Power Cuts. The Industrial Sector esp. the SMEs were the worst hit.

Fortunately for Mr.Stalin, most voters seem to have forgotten the severe power cuts in the second half of last year.

Tamil Nadu has in recent times witnessed people being imprisoned under NSA for their speeches in favour of LTTE. In this background, Dr.Karunanithi, DMK Chief and the Chief Minister of the State has openly said that he is a friend of LTTE Chief Prabhakaran. Is this not a way of showing support for LTTE?