Friday, May 15, 2009

Election Verdict 2009

16 May 2009

The results are showing a definite trend of Congress (I) and its allies coming to power in the centre. However as expected Congress seems to be trailing behind or losing most of the 16 seats in which it contested. Its ally in Tamil Nadu, the DMK has against many adverse conditions and predictions is bound to secure a decent electoral success, winning most of the areas in which it contested. It is clear from the results that the expected "frame-alignment" between Tamil movements and Tamil parties has not been able to translate into sufficient votes to be a force to reckon with in the era of coalition politics at the centre. In Tamil Nadu however the verdict is clear, there is a significant polarization with regional dravidian parties taking in most votes and leaving the national parties with not much hope of gaining political ground in Tamil Nadu.

Ms. Jayalalitha may have sobered up after the shocking verdict that Tamil people have not given her party or her allies mandate to materialize the electoral promise of sending army to liberate Eelam. Tamil movements and parties also need to do some soul searching as to what percentage of votes have they been able to obtain or deny the ruling alliance. What ever be the verdict, it is bound to teach a few lessons to all the parties and actors.

At the Indian level, it is heartening to see the slide down suffered by communal parties. The communists have suffered much too. An emboldened Congress (I) is bound to come to power and i guess we will have more of the same stuff we are used to for five years more.

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