A long trek
Organising elections in a vast country such as India with millions of voters is no easy task. Ask the polling officials tasked with manning the polling booth in Behtra in the mountainous Uttarakhand province and they will say so.
To reach the remote region of Chamoli district, the officials would have to walk 45km on a hilly terrain and start at least two days before elections to reach the spot in time.
Other polling stations where officials have to go on foot include Torti village (23 km), Ghaman (27 km), Choti (24 km) and Ghes (37 km).
The hazardous treks are reminders that being a democracy is no cakewalk.
by AJIndia at 4/12/2009 12:10:09 PM
Lone voter
A polling booth will be set up in India’s western Gujarat state just for one voter.
According to the private CNN-IBN television channel, two polling officials and a few policemen will make the arduous journey to the remote Banej village deep inside the Gir forests – home to the famed Asiatic lions – so that Bharatdasji Bapu can cast his ballot on the polling day.
Bapu – a priest – stays in the village with several of his followers, but remains its only registered voter. And the world's largest democracy is making an extra effort to ensure that he gets his chance to vote.
by AJIndia at 4/12/2009 12:12:00 PM
No Light
Residents of two villages in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have threatened to boycott elections to the lower house of parliament.
The villages of Kali Ka Purva and Shitala Ka Purva in Faizabad district are yet to get electricity even 60 years after India's independence.
Steeped in darkness, angry villagers say they will abstain from voting when elections are held. They apparently find no hope for a better future in elections sans electricity.
by AJIndia at 4/12/2009 12:12:24 PM
Land of ex-Maharajas
They have lost their kingdoms, but not their penchant to rule.
Many ex-royals, descendants of the 560-odd princes who once ruled over a third of India before the country's independence, are seeking to extend their hold over the people by getting elected to the lower house of the Indian parliament.
In the impoverished eastern state of Orissa, there are no less than 16 of them contesting the elections.
"Our bonds with the them [former subjects] are historically strong," says Bikram Keshari Deo, whose father was once the ruler of Kalahandi.
Deo, elected thrice to the parliament, is seeking re-election again.
In southern India, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, the son of the former ruler of Mysore, is also courting the electorate as a Congress candidate.
In central and western India, more royalty is on show in the heat and dust of Indian elections.
Prominent among them are Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Congress candidate from Guna in Madhya Pradesh. Dushyant, his cousin, is running for the BJP in the neighbouring state of Rajasthan.
by AJIndia at 4/12/2009 12:15:05 PM
Shoe-throwing epidemic
Shoes are becoming a potent political weapon in the Indian elections.
After a journalist threw his shoes at the Indian interior minister, reigniting a public outcry over the ruling party's apathy in bringing to book those who masterminded the anti-Sikh riots and forcing the Congress to deny nominations to two 'tainted' leaders, another leader has been at the receiving end of the shoe-missile.
Naveen Jindal, a prominent Congress leader seeking election to the parliament from Kurukshetra in northern India, had a shoe thrown at him by a retired school teacher at an election meeting.
Jindal put on a brave face and said the incident was plotted by his political rivals to embarrass him.
But the shoe-thrower, reportedly drunk, remained unapologetic. He insisted the Congress has failed the people and deserved the shoe-treatment.
by AJIndia at 4/12/2009 12:16:07 PM
Confused campaigner
Salman Khan is a Bollywood sensation over whom millions of fans swoon. But for the moment, the movie star has many of his followers confused.
Given his popularity, politicians are keen to get Khan to campaign for them. The star has also obliged and hit the campaign trail.
But the problem is that Khan has ended up campaigning for rival political parties.
The other day, Khan arrived in Unnao in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh to canvas for votes for the local Congress candidate. A day later, he was in Gurudaspur in neighbouring Punjab province to appeal for votes for the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.
Like many of the inane Hindi films that he stars in, Khan's political foray is reeking of absurdity.
by AJIndia at 4/12/2009 3:04:41 PM
New beginning
As the southern state of Kerala went to the polls during the first phase of cross-country elections, a beaming newly-wed couple joined voter queues.
Aswathy and Unni got married at a temple and then headed straight to the polling booth to cast their ballots in their full wedding finery.
As other voters in the queue blessed the bride and groom for a blissful life together, the couple wished India a fresh start.
by AJIndia at 4/18/2009 10:36:00 AM
High on hate
Passion historically runs high during elections in India. But this time round, electioneering has also been marked by an unusually strong outpouring of vitriol.
Several high-profile politicians stand accused of resorting to hate-campaigns with the aim of polarising the electorate.
Varun Gandhi, a scion of the Gandhi dynasty, has just got out of jail, after spending days behind bars for targeting Muslims in an election speech. His predominantly Hindu audience cheered, but the authorities were less than amused. They charged Gandhi with seeking to stoke communal tensions.
Laloo Prasad Yadav, the railway minister, instead targeted Gandhi, but found himself on the wrong side of the law. In an attempt to ingratiate himself with Muslim voters, Yadav, who heads the rival Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), threatened to "run a roller over the chest" of Gandhi for his hate speech. Yadav had a case slapped against him for his provocative speech.
D Srinivas, the head of the Congress party in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, also spewed more hate in condemning the hate speeches. "I will sever [the] hands of those who point a finger at the minorities," Srinivas said at a campaign recently.
In the eastern state of Orissa, a BJP candidate was arrested for his alleged hate speech against the Christian minority.
This election is evidently high on hate, in addition to the customary rush of adrenaline.
by AJIndia at 4/18/2009 10:36:33 AM
A cut above the rest
A political party in the western state of Maharashtra has hit upon a novel way to woo voters.
The Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) party is reportedly distributing computers and providing internet connections to hair salons in the city.
There are around 35,000 salons in Mumbai and considering that they serve about 20-25 customers every day, the regional party hopes to reach out to more than 800,000 voters daily while they get their hair cut.
Whether the approach rakes in votes remain to be seen. But what is certain, though, is that the MNS is a cut above the rest.
by AJIndia at 4/18/2009 11:32:11 AM
Dodging flying objects
Many Indian politicians are cowering as shoes fly around.
Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the western Gujarat state and a star BJP campaigner, is particularly worried that someone might target him with footwear.
A divisive figure who is accused by many of having masterminded the anti-Muslim riots in 2002, Modi had a protective nylon net spread out in front of him as he addressed an election rally.
He has also reportedly decided against holding any news conferences in the run-up to the elections, lest any critical journalist throw a shoe at him.
With shoe-throwing clearly the flavour of the electoral season, the BJP strongman is being plain cautious.
by AJIndia at 4/18/2009 11:32:20 AM
India's 'Shoe-gate'
Not to trivialise the world's biggest exercise in democracy, but shoes seem to have become synonymous with the current Indian elections.
Ever since a journalist famously lobbed his footwear at the Indian interior minister, more shoes thrown at other politicians have dominated the media headlines.
The Mail Today newspaper ran a headline saying the shoe had grown in stature and become a "weapon of mass distraction".
The latest high-profile politician to have been at the receiving end of a shoe-attack was L K Advani, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.
Advani was addressing a campaign rally in the central province of Madhya Pradesh when a disgruntled party worker threw a shoe at him.
The shoe missed its target but television cameras lingered on the shoe lying next to the podium, perhaps more than the grim-faced Advani, who sat above on a colourfully-decked dais.
For the news hungry media, the shoe missiles are as fascinating a story as the Watergate scandal in the US. They are fondly calling it India's "Shoe-gate".
by AJIndia at 4/18/2009 11:33:14 AM
The Flesh Eaters
"Vote for veggies": that was the credo of the Rashtriya Ahimsa Manch, which fought all 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala.
"Kerala desam has been converted into a slaughterhouse by people who have made cruelty to animals, flesh-eating and consuming intoxicants a way of life," AVK Moosad, the party's leader, said.
by AJIndia at 4/24/2009 4:02:38 PM
Siren song
YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, added special effects to his election speeches.
When reminded voters of the new ambulances deployed by his government, he imitated the sound of the siren. "Kui ... kui..." went Reddy at his rallies.
To make his special effects sound better, the politician - who is a doctor by profession - even spent time adjusting microphones.
by AJIndia at 4/24/2009 4:03:42 PM
Right speech, wrong place
During elections, any political leader is more than eager to speak at any given opportunity. But VS Acharya, Karnataka's interior minister and a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, made the right speech at the wrong place when he landed at a meeting of the rival Congress party.
As Acharya entered the room, being a minister and a senior leader, he was offered a chair. The action may have been reflexive as he was with the Congress till recently.
Only when his audience began asking hostile questions, did he realise his mistake and make a quick exit.
by AJIndia at 4/24/2009 4:05:16 PM
Prime target
A lot has been written of shoes as the weapon of choice in Indian politics this year, but few stories can top the latest incident.
On Sunday, the head of India's government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finally faced a flying footwear.
Moments after Singh took the stage to address an election rally in Ahmedabad, a student - incensed by "lying" politicians - hurled a shoe at him. However, the footwear missed its "prime" target, and landed in front of the dias.
The angered engineering student had better hope Singh wasn't lying when he told police not to press charges.
by AJIndia at 4/26/2009 3:52:36 PM