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With eight-hundred and fourteen million voters, IndiaÕs election is the largest exercise
of democracy in world history. IndiaÕs elections are heralded worldwide as free and fair, and
the election commission is fiercely independent. To manage voting on this scaleÑkeeping voters
safe and ballot boxes secureÑpolls take place over nine phases spanning more than a month,
from April 7 to May 12. Votes will be counted on May 16. The current Congress-led coalition
government, based on the results of numerous polls, appears poised for defeat, and the
main national opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, appears poised to win
a large plurality. Here are three things you should know about
IndiaÕs elections: First, this is not a presidential-style election.
The media coverage this year makes it sound like a presidential contest, with the BJPÕs
Narendra Modi pitched against the Congress Party vice president Rahul Gandhi. But in
IndiaÕs parliamentary system, coalitions have been the dominant form of government.
No single party has been able to win half the seats in Parliament on its own since 1984.
India is not a two-party countryÑthere are six national parties, and 22 single-state
parties. These smaller parties, and how they choose to ally, matter in forming the government.
The last BJP-led coalition government had 24 allies at its peak, and over the past decade,
the current Congress-led coalition government had as many as twelve.
The second thing to know is that the language of politics in India has changed from appeals
to identity, to a focus on governance. The last time a BJP-led government won power,
it appealed to religionÑto Hindu nationalism. Regional parties have traditionally focused
on caste or ethnicity to mobilize votes. There has been a shift away from this at the state
level and towards delivery of services and governanceÑelectricity, roads, and water.
A strong anti-corruption movement has blossomed over the past three years. The Congress-led
national government has come under attack, and this has resulted in much greater voter
and media focus on governance. Finally, number three: whoever wins, the next
government will need to focus on the economy. IndiaÕs economic growth has slowed sharply
in recent years, going from nearly 10 percent in 2007 to below 5 last year. In addition,
inflation has hurt ordinary people badly, particularly food price inflation, and the
rupee has taken a beating. With IndiaÕs demographicsÑmore than half the population is under age 25Ñeconomists
estimate that India needs to grow at 8 percent annually to create enough jobs to absorb rising
entrants into the workforce. The next Indian government will need to tackle all these issues
to get back on the path of high growth again.