India is currently in election season and, in the world's biggest democracy, organising a general election is no mean feat. With over 800m people eligible to vote, this cannot possible happen in a single day and voting instead takes place over a month-long period. Indian's are amazed that UK elections happen in a single day and the vote counting over that night, and considering that there are 20 voters in India for every one in the UK, this brings home just how vast this country is. India's most populous state, Utter Pradesh, would be near the top of the population league tables if considered as a single country (over 200m people) emphasising the scale of this democratic challenge.
Voting in Mumbai took place on Thursday 24 April which, pleasingly, was granted as an extra Public Holiday, including for British citizens. Given that I cannot vote in India, this was a bonus day's holiday. Very good.
There are many political parties in India and three main contenders in Mumbai; Shiv Sena (Maharashtra Hindu party, main and very popular policy seems to be to burn road toll booths...), Congress (the "Cong", currently in power and presided over by the Gandhi dynasty, not related to the Mahatma, for the avoidance of doubt); and the BJP (lead by controversial Gujarati Chief Minister Narendra Modi). The voting system and political structure is, unsurprisingly, very similar to the UK. Voting takes place within constituencies with the winners taking their place in the Lok Sabha (House of Commons).
I wouldn't wish to speculate on the relative merits of these parties but many of our friends and acquaintances have strong views and were keen to express these on voting day. Voting in India is strictly regulated with voting card and a black marker pen. Once you've voted, your voting finger to marked to ensure that you cannot do so twice.
Indian politics differs from the UK in that it is notoriously corrupt - Indian's find the UK MP's expenses scandal bizarre owing to its triviality. Whilst I don't have an opinion on this or individual candidates myself, one of my colleague's voting strategies made this clear. She googled all candidates to see if they had been imprisoned for corruption / other charges and this left her with a very small pool of people from which to choose, after which time it became easy to pick.
The election results are announced on Thursday 17 May. The word on the street seems to be that NaMo will prosper, but we will have to see. Let's hope that the vote counting process goes smoothly, a re-count could take a while...
Voting in Mumbai took place on Thursday 24 April which, pleasingly, was granted as an extra Public Holiday, including for British citizens. Given that I cannot vote in India, this was a bonus day's holiday. Very good.
There are many political parties in India and three main contenders in Mumbai; Shiv Sena (Maharashtra Hindu party, main and very popular policy seems to be to burn road toll booths...), Congress (the "Cong", currently in power and presided over by the Gandhi dynasty, not related to the Mahatma, for the avoidance of doubt); and the BJP (lead by controversial Gujarati Chief Minister Narendra Modi). The voting system and political structure is, unsurprisingly, very similar to the UK. Voting takes place within constituencies with the winners taking their place in the Lok Sabha (House of Commons).
I wouldn't wish to speculate on the relative merits of these parties but many of our friends and acquaintances have strong views and were keen to express these on voting day. Voting in India is strictly regulated with voting card and a black marker pen. Once you've voted, your voting finger to marked to ensure that you cannot do so twice.
Sagar's post-voting finger
Indian politics differs from the UK in that it is notoriously corrupt - Indian's find the UK MP's expenses scandal bizarre owing to its triviality. Whilst I don't have an opinion on this or individual candidates myself, one of my colleague's voting strategies made this clear. She googled all candidates to see if they had been imprisoned for corruption / other charges and this left her with a very small pool of people from which to choose, after which time it became easy to pick.
The election results are announced on Thursday 17 May. The word on the street seems to be that NaMo will prosper, but we will have to see. Let's hope that the vote counting process goes smoothly, a re-count could take a while...
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