Why elections are La-La outlandish

One of the quiet sinful joys of following Indian elections - if you have nothing better to do beyond the actual act of voting - is how la-la outlandish they have become. Take Akshay Kanti Bam. The man was Congress candidate for Indore a few hours before he dropped out to join BJP.

This is the same candidate whose nomination BJP had earlier objected to owing to 17-year-old attempt-to-murder charges against him. So, as a voter, if you had decided to vote for Congress candidate Bam on May 13, now you have a choice of not voting, opting for Nota, or voting for anyone else, including the incumbent BJP MP. That's like going to a supermarket for bread, not finding it there, and having the option of not buying anything, or coming home with, say, eggs.

Bam's case is interesting, since it tells us much about what's going on in the 'world's biggest democratic exercise'. If candidates are replaced by, say, lampposts, it doesn't really matter. What matters is your party and/or poster boy of choice. The rest of the fray may just well be a number.


What's doubly 'funny' is that more and more people find this kind of chicanery 'bold', an act of smart realpolitik - instead of anything from the rather cheap Dirty Tricks Dept. Free movement of candidates from one party to another is one thing. But Wham Bam's 'Thank You Ma'am' politics is quite another.