The Election results 2009 was a surprise to every one including the bookies who had been swinging with their odds of who will win. So surprising it was for everyone that the Stock market saw a record surge and there was happiness all around. But will this sustain? Is the Stock market only sentiment driven today? Will it come back to where is was in the next few days after the government presents the Union Budget?
Whatever the case may be, let us enjoy today and take a look at the Election results 2009 -

Party	Winners/No of Seats	Party Type
Bahujan Samaj Party	21	National
Bharatiya Janata Party	116	National
Communist Party of India	4	National
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	16	National
Indian National Congress	206	National
Nationalist Congress Party	9	National
Rashtriya Janata Dal	4	National
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	9	State
All India Forward Bloc	2	State
All India Trinamool Congress	19	State
Asom Gana Parishad	1	State
Assam United Democratic Front	1	State
Biju Janata Dal	14	State
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	18	State
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	3	State
Janata Dal (Secular)	3	State
Janata Dal (United)	20	State
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	2	State
Kerala Congress (M)	1	State
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	1	State
Muslim League Kerala State Committee	2	State
Nagaland Peoples Front	1	State
Revolutionary Socialist Party	2	State
Samajwadi Party	23	State
Shiromani Akali Dal	4	State
Shivsena	11	State
Sikkim Democratic Front	1	State
Telangana Rashtra Samithi	2	State
Telugu Desam	6	State
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen	1	UnRecognized
Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi	1	UnRecognized
Bodaland Peoples Front	1	UnRecognized
Haryana Janhit Congress (BL)	1	UnRecognized
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik)	1	UnRecognized
Rashtriya Lok Dal	5	UnRecognized
Swabhimani Paksha	1	UnRecognized
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katch	1	UnRecognized
Independent	9	Independents

Finally the verdict is here - the UPA swept the polls. There would be some analysis, some axes and some serious ponders over what happened and what went wrong for the other parties, including the BJP and the NDA. But the verdict is there and none can question it now.
What did the brave citizens of India vote for this elections? Was it terrorism, administration, a charismatic leader or, something else.
It was probably stability!
I as an Indian am fed up with the calculator politics and the uncertainty that surrounds every government that is formed at the center. A few handful greedy politicians lend their support to the governments on the pretext of getting a lucrative position and then when they are dissatisfied, withdraw their support to find the government hanging in imbalance.
Then comes another elections or, a vote-of-confidence and this in turn means unnecessary wastage of resources and money - my hard-earned money which should otherwise have gone into development activities.
Mr. Manmohan Singh, for gods sake, please do something for the development of the country, to protect us from terrorists and to protect us from the leaders whose wealth would otherwise grow 300 times than what they have today - like how it happened 5 years back.
What do you think is the reason for this verdict?
Cast your polls today...

The Calculators are out. Our politicians are busy adding and subtracting and so are the bookies. These politicians are excellent mathematicians, I should say. They know what to add and where and that is how they have been surviving all these years.
But is this how a democracy should behave like? India has about 2 National Parties, 60 recognized state parties and 730 unrecognized parties as per the list published by the Election Commission in 2005. What is the credibility of such an election? 90% of these parties play the role of party-poopers. You and I vote and find ourselves in a situation where the mainline National parties have to beg for the support of these party-poopers, to form a government. The hard part in this entire "politics of calculators" is that these parties who get a few votes have no ideologies or, principles. I have heard them say that they are secular parties and that they would not support the Bharatiya Janata Party, who is a non-secular party and then after a few days they support the same party just because they have been offered a cool position in the parliament. Absurd, isn't it?
I am of the opinion that the Election Commission should disallow the formation of any party till the time there is a set number of members to the party. This would discourage the formation of any such small parties and would in turn stop the splitting of votes during elections, thus helping one of the National parties form a government at the Center with a majority.
The Election Commission could even bar these small time parties from contesting the elections for the Lok Sabha and can let them contest the Vidhan Sabha elections.
We need the EC to act firmly if we are to stop mid-term polls happening frequently. This time again, it would be a situation where the alliance forming the government at the Center is going to be of a large number of small parties. This would mean that the government is going to be all the more unstable and could crumble at any one of these parties withdrawing support, if they are not offered a portfolio of their choice. We, the citizens of India, would then again be face-to-face with another mid-term polls. The answer to the question, who is going to bear the expenses of the polls again, is quite obvious.

As the World's largest democracy went to vote in the past 2 weeks, there were quite a few news, highs and lows to be seen.

While the electronic voting machines showed the sophistication that the elections in India have undergone, the polling officers still seemed to be from the same old Harrappan Civilization.

There was a drive all over to get people to vote. Various campaigns in the media kept pushing people to exercise their right of voting, so that they have a right to crib over issues that they were dissatisfied with. But many of the voters had a question in mind. What do I do, if none of the candidates in the fray could impress me?

There certainly was an answer to this question. The Indian Constitution provided its citizens, the right to forego a vote under section 49(0). There was a set way of doing it and quite a few people also, knew about it.

But.........

But the polling officers were absolutely unaware of it. They went on to question people who asked them about exercising this option, as to what they were talking about and that they were not talking sense. A few of the voters were even pressured to vote for one candidate. People who resisted were asked to leave and they left. The others who succumbed to the pressure voted under influence.

Election Commission, if you are hearing, please train your polling officers.

Talk about relationships in politics!! You might be wondering as to what relationships have got to do in politics. You are right. Relationships are a distant reality in politics. Once somebody takes to politics, he/she is a politician. He/she can then never be a brother or, a sister or, even a mother or, a father. Family quarrels then become a public spat and are used as a source of mileage to enhance the political image.
Take for example the case of Sanjay Dutt and Priya Dutt. Their father Sunil Dutt was a man of principles. he was a union cabinet minister and held posts like that of the Sports minister. He never compromised with his principles and was looked upon as an ideal for any young politician. If that is the case what is it that you would expect out of his children. The same ideology and principles, right? But how is that possible if the children have friends like that of Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav?
Priya Dutt took to politics after the death of her father and joined the Congress party. She was doing well in her career as a politician till once fine day when her brother Sanjay Dutt decided to join politics. He probably had different ideologies and hence decided to join the Samajwadi Party. But that was a decision of his and he should have had complete freedom to decide which party he wants to join.
Suddenly once fine day the news channels show a furious Priya Dutt passing some comments on her brother and the next day her brother retaliating. The remarks then take an ugly turn when these two accuse each other of not respecting each other even at home. Sanjay goes to the extent of saying that his sister has never respected his wife Manyata. The next day comes a controversy over using the maiden name, when Sanjay questioned the use of Dutt as the last name of Priya.
Doesn't such issue happen ine our homes as well? But do we take it to the public? The story is different here. This is politics.
I wonder how they would manage the country when they are unable to manage their own homes.

It is time for the Lok Sabha elections and it is time for the politics of calculators.
Yes, One the largest democracies in the world is going to polls in a month. And the calculators, the king makers, the alliance makers and the bookies are busy again.
Indeed, a democracy is a funny board of game where the ones who are able to accumulate the most numbers wins.
This is precisely what is happening in Indian politics these days. Till about a few days back there were two main fronts in the fray - the UPA and the NDA. One calling itself secular and the other the non-secular. So there were a few other parties that joined one of these alliances based on what their ideologies were (if you are wondering what idealogies mean, then these parties can explain it better). But all of a sudden the small parties that formed part of the big alliances broke-off due to a seat sharing debate and new equations began to fall in place.
Consider this - Lok Janshakti party leader Ram Vilas Paswan and Rastriya Janata Dal leader Laloo Prasad Yadav were the worst of enemies till a few days back swearing at each other, throwing dirt at each other and doing what not. All of a sudden they are together, embracing each other, praising each other and agreeing to a lok sabha poll aliance in Bihar. I, for sure am still not able to figure out what their idealogies were.
Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party were two factions headed by Mamta Banerjee and Sharad Pawar that were break-aways from the Congress. The reason why they broke away - difference of opinion and idealogy. They have agreed to form an alliance with the Congress Party. No wonder if you are guessing - then why the different factions if there is no difference of ideology when they can form a pre-poll alliance.
The answers to these questions are the trumps to winning this board game. Keep your calculators out and keep calculating because there would be many more such calculations when it comes to forming the government at the center.

What is the easiest way to become famous and ensure that you have all the support in the world - support good enough to get you elected from your constituency even if you had no chance of winning?
If you do not know the answer to this question then ask Varun Gandhi. The other son from the Gandhi family who has been writing poems for the past few years suddenly learn the formula of getting instant fame on the political scene in India, more so when the Lok Sabha elections were so close and he had to contest the election from a Constituency where his mother used to contest from till about some time.
The learned son of Maneka Gandhi, who is an animal activist, suddenly realized that human beings were not as worthy of animals and went out on a hatred speech in Pilibhit, a constituency in UP. Congress had earlier fielded a strong candidate from this constituency belonging to the Muslim Community. (They blame other parties of being anti-secular and they play a very smart game of doing that the diplomatic way). Varun Gandhi knew exactly what to do. he knew he had to woo the hindu vote bank there which was the only way of winning the elections. So there he appeared in Pilibhit as the savior of the Hindus and delivered a strong inflammatory speech with statements like, "any hand that is raised on the hindus - Varun Gandhi will chop it off". Probably he felt that he was the next avtar of the Vishnu.
But the Election Commission felt otherwise. They filed a case and an arrest warrant was issued against the young Gandhi. Varun Gandhi again knew how to use this to his benefit. He made a public appearance and courted arrest in full public view, thus garnering a few sympathy votes and quite a few followers. Finally he has learnt the dirty art of politics.
Was this speech required? Am I really bothered about things that Varun spoke to about in his speech? Probably I am not, but there are yet others who are bothered, I guess.
Politics, today is dirty indeed. The Bharatiya Janata Party garners support by being anti-secular and by promoting Ram and Ayodhya. The Congress party garners support by acting secular which they are not. It is just that they are smart enough not to make a public stageshow of anti-secularism. Yet others there in the meantime keep changing loyalties.

Citizens in a democratic country is not free of villains, rather I should say they are surrounded by villains. Most of these villains are the ones who were made to protect the citizens of these democracies. Politicians, police, and now the Judiciary.
I wonder why is it that we call this a democracy. Probably because we have the right to ask and they have the right to deny. The Judiciary has always been playing the villain but till date they were playing a passive role. They only ensured that no politicians or, people with power were punished, thereby paving the way for these unpunished criminals to harass and humiliate the innocent citizens of the democracy.
But now they have decided that enough is enough. They felt that they now had to come to the forefront and show their power.
That is when the Chief Justice of India issued an ordinance challenging the RTI Act. They said that the officials in a Judiciary do not require to furnish information sought under the Right to Information Act because such information could compromise the security of the country.
Worth a laugh, isn't it?
This is probably how terrorists made a mockery of the system in the Mumbai terror attack.
This is how terrorists set-up the serial blasts in New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Jaipur.
And this is precisely how the terrorists set-up the local train blasts in Mumbai.
Isn't it?
Hasn't the security of the country been compromised till date? Is it because of some information that a Judiciary official has divulged?
What security information would the information on the assets of a Chief Justice of the country have?
Difficult to understand, isn't it?
But our Chief Justice feels so.
Then the judiciary came out with a libel ruling. Bloggers will be responsible for any comments that involve hatred or, communal remarks on their blogs.
Funny!!!
So henceforth I need to control the expression of somebody else. That is freedom of expression. Isn't that moral policing?
Why should we be penalising only the Sri Ram Sene?