Wednesday, April 15, 2009

India General Elections 2009: Phase I

India General Elections, 2009: Phase I
*The 2009 General Elections in India will be held in five phases. In the first phase, polling will be held on April 16, 2009. The article views the schedule for the first phase of the election and analyses the trend in the 2004 general elections.
*Analysis: India is the largest democracy in the world. In the name of democracy Indian politicans sham the system by unethical remarks, horse trading, overspending, buying votes and the list is endless. In 2004 general elections cost the taxpayer $2.5 billion and the current 2009 general elections estimated official cost is $5 billion but unofficially the cost would exceed almost to approx. $10-12 billion! What a waste of money for a country needy for funds and can invest the same amount in infrastructure? Secondly, majority of the Indian policiticans have no educational qualifications and as lawmakers in the parliament the Indian government should set a degree that anyone aspiring for politics should have a law, university or MBA qualifications. Thirdly, the current Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is very highly educated and is one of the best prime minister India ever had. Unfortunately, an opposition leader side passed some remarks about Dr. Manmohan Singh that he is a weak prime minister. It is unethical and stupid remarks by that entity, there should be mutual understanding and respect amongst politicans to set a good example for others to follow. Lastly, still India is a great democracy going at a snail's pace and if the system is sorted out rationally with politicans having more vested interest for the country then themselves the country will go at a greater pace of development. (DTN Defense-Technology News)
(NSI News Source Info) April 15, 2009: India begins voting Thursday to choose a new government in a mammoth exercise covering more than three million square kilometers of the planet in scattered polling until next month. Indian election officials check electronic voting machines prior to Wednesday's vote. Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi waves to the crowd as he is felicitated by party workers with a garland during an election rally in Deoghar, in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, Wednesday, April 15, 2009. Thousands of troops fanned out across parts of India on Wednesday, a day ahead of elections to determine who will lead the country as the global economic slump threatens to undo two decades of growth. India currently has 714 million registered voters, up 43 million from the last vote. That election, in 2004, brought the Congress party of Italian-born Sonia Gandhi to power as head of a coalition backed by the communists. More than 1,700 candidates will be in the fray for the first phase of voting Thursday, in 124 of the 543 boroughs, for the Lok Sabha, or the lower house of the Indian parliament, according to the country's election commission. Two million security personnel are to guard the entire voting process, the commission said. Political analysts expect post-poll agreements among various groups from the right, left and center -- rather than national divisions over any particular issues -- to determine the shape and make up of the next governing coalition. The Congress party, which currently leads the United Progressive Alliance government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeks to retain the power it won in 2004. But some allies of the United Progressive Alliance have already reached a pre-poll agreement, to the exclusion of Congress. Polling officers check electric voting machines to be used in the first phase of elections, as security personnel stand guard in Jammu, India, Wednesday, April 15, 2009. Thousands of troops fanned out across parts of India on Wednesday, a day ahead of elections to determine who will lead the country as the global economic slump threatens to undo two decades of growth. A general election is held every five years in India. The vote count, which will be carried out electronically in a single day, is scheduled for May 16, three days after the last round of polling. The nation of one billion-plus people will vote in five phases.

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