Indian elections: A coin with three sides

As people of the largest democracy brave the sweltering heat to cast a vote in the epic month-long elections in India, they realize that this time more than ever, the future holds a coin with three sides.

The world's largest democracy, India is the midst of general elections for the 15th Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian parliament) through the months of April and May. The elections are being held in five phases with the first phase completed on April 16th and the last phase scheduled for May 13th. The results will be announced on the 16th of May. The Election Commission of India has estimated that 714 million voters will be eligible to vote in these elections. Along with the general elections, state elections are also being conducted for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orrisa and Sikkim. There are in all 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. There will be 828,804 polling stations in the country and around 1.3 million electronic voting machines will be available. A hung parliament is predicted with both major parties the Indian National Congress and the Bhartiya Janta Party struggling to get the required majority. To make the situation complex for the voters, a third front has emerged as a formidable competitor to the two bigger alliances. The incumbent Indian National Congress (INC) has formed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). The alliance is once again promoting Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh as its prime-ministerial candidate. The UPA consists of several other regional and small parties. The important ones include: 1. The Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) led by the Indian Railway Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav. The party has its roots in the Indian state of Bihar. 2. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar, who is also trying to promote himself as a Prime Ministerial candidate 3. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by Karunanidhi. The party has its roots in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Karunanidhi has lately come under media's fire for his comments supporting the LTTE leader Prabhakaran. The main opposition alliance is the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). The alliance is promoting veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani as its prime-ministerial candidate. Other parties in the alliance are: 1. Shiv Sena led by Uddav Thackeray, the regional party from the western state of Maharashtra, 2. The Janta Dal (United) with its roots from the Indian states of Bihar and Karnataka, 3. The Shiromani Akali Dal led by Prakash Singh Badal from the Sikh state of Punjab 4. The Indian National Lok Dal from the northern state of Haryana Several other parties have stayed away from both the major groupings. A handful of such parties have formed a third front called as the United National Progressive Alliance. The left front parties - the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) are the primary members of this group. The other major constituents are: 1. The TeluguDesam Party (TDP) led by Chandrababu Naidu from the state of Andhra Pradesh 2. The All India Anna Dravida Munetra Khazgam (AIADMK) led by J.Jayalalitha from the southern state of Tamil Nadu. 3. The Biju Janta Dal (BJD) from the state of Orrisa led by Navin Patnaik 4. The Janta Dal - Secular, which has roots in small pockets around the country. The 'Third Party' alliance has not promoted any leader as the prime-ministerial candidate. The party that gets the most seats within this group will earn the bragging rights. Some other parties have not yet announced the collation they support and have decided to fight the elections on their own. These parties could ultimately play the role of the 'King maker' when the forge a post-poll alliance. Chief amongst these lone-standers are: The Samajvadi Party (SP) led by Mulayam Singh Yadav from the populous Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Mayawati and hailing from the same state. All opinion polls that were conducted before the first phase of polling have predicted the Congress-led UPA alliance to get the most seats, still short of a majority. The NDA comes in a distant second and the 'Third Front' remains third in line. Exit polls and opinion polls are banned since the first round of polling till the end of the fifth phase on the 13th of May and the people of India have a long wait before the three-faced coin lands on the ground.