ANDHRA PRADESH ELECTIONS- 2014

B.Vijayalakshmi, Research Scholar, Centre for Economic and Social Studies Hydrabad.Email:Vijayalakshmi.bhattiprolu@gmail.com

Prof.V. Ravindra Sastry, (Rtd) Dean of Social Sciences, Osmania University .Email:ravindrasastry@gmail.com

ANDHRA PRADESH ELECTIONS-2014

Abstract: This paper analyses the Andhra Pradesh Parliamentaryand Assembly elections 2014 in the background of the momentousoccasion of passing of the state bifurcation bill, which would onthe appointed day of June 2, 2014 witnesses the emergence of thenew State of Telangana as the 29th State in the Indian Union.This paper looks into the socio-economic bases of the politicaleconomy of Andhra Pradesh Elections. The feelings ofestrangement have been reinforced by the vanguard of theTelangana movement through political and cultural activities anddevices. The holding of General Elections coinciding with thatof the Assembly elections was in the wake of formal division ofthe state by the Congress widely perceived to be based on selfishmotives and not as a response to the popular movements. While inthe Andhra segment resentment against the Congress was dominant,in the Telangana region gratitude towards Congress for grantingseparate Statehood was skilfully transformed by TRS party intobegrudging the Congress for delayed decision and concomitantsuffering the people of the region subjected to. While theNational Parties were side- lined in the political arena in thepolitically contingent situation, the real fight took placebetween the Regional and Regionalist Parties. The electionresults have reinforced the existing regional and caste cleavagesand have not helped in any transformation of the prevalent

prejudices or hegemonic discourses. The triumph of theseRegional(ist) parties augur for the further perpetration ofalready entrenched interests in Andhra, while in Telangana theunfolding political drama would reveal the identity or distancebetween the political class and the masses.

ANDHRA PRADESHELECTIONS-2014

Introduction: Andhra Pradesh had the distinction of being the firststate formed under the linguistic principle of reorganization ofStates. At the time of writing this paper Andhra Pradesh thereference to the State could only be made under the address oferstwhile state of “united Andhra Pradesh“(1956-2014)”. The bill forbifurcation –The Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 passed in LokSabha on 18.02.2014 and in the Rajya Sabha on 20.02.2014. The billwas attested by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 1.03.2014and published in the Official Gazette. The appointed day for the newstate was 2.06.2014. The bill was earlier rejected in the APLegislative Assembly on January 30, 2014. The C.M. of the State wasvociferously against the state’s division and on passing of the bill

he resigned and Presidential rule was imposed from 19.02.2014 onwards.What makes the elections of 2014 a different experience for the peopleof united Andhra Pradesh is the historical decision to bifurcate thestate and create a separate Telangana as the 29th State of the IndianUnion.

The state of A.P. has been in a continuous election mode since mid2012 bye-elections, which saw the emergence of the YSRCP as a strongcontender for political power. Just before a month of theParliamentary and Assembly elections, elections to the local bodieshad to be conducted under the influence of Supreme Court stricturesfor not conducting the elections that were due since two years.Earlier in mid-2013 Gram Panchayat elections in 3 phases were heldafter a lapse of seven years. The elections to 16,589 Mandal ParishadTerritorial Constituencies (MPTC) and 1096 Zilla Parishad TerritorialConstituencies (ZPTC) held on March 30th, and 146 municipalities and10 municipal corporations held on April 6 came to a conclusion withthe declaration of results on 12.05.2014 and 13.05.2014. The resultsof these polls at least in the case of Congress were a foretaste ofthings to come. It failed to win even a single municipality ormunicipal corporation in Seemandhra. The winner was Telugu DesamParty (TDP) and the runner- up Yuvajana Sramika Ryotu Congress Party(YSRCP) hoped that people vote differently at different levels ofcontest. In Gram Panchayat elections in the Telangana region Congressput up a good show. Invariably these election run ups to the generalelections at central and state levels bolstered the confidence ofcertain parties (TDP in AP), gave false hopes to certain others(Congress in Telangana) and some refused to read the writing on thewall (YSRCP), while some made course corrections.(TRS).

Political Geography: Andhra Pradesh has gone to the elections withthe knowledge that the end of the electoral exercise would see theformal installation of two Chief Ministers in the new state ofTelangana and what is dubbed as‘ residual state of Andhra Pradesh’.The state was the fifth largest state in India and is considered to beone of the developed states in south India though its performance oninfant mortality rate was poor as also on certain other humandevelopment indices. The state has three regions viz., Andhra

comprising of coastal districts or the Northern Circars, Rayalaseemaor the ceded districts and Telangana, a region formerly under theNizam’s rule. In a paper on “Regional Disparities: Causes andRemedies” S Subrahmanyam, divides the state into five regions on thecriteria of economic development. The Regions are North Coastal Andhrawith three Districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Vishakapatnam;South Coastal Andhra with six Districts of East, Godavari, WestGodavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasham, Nellore; Rayalaseema with fourdistricts viz., Chitoor, Cuddapah, Anantapur, Kurnool; SouthTelangana has four Districts – Ranga Reddy, Mahbubnagar, Medak,Nalgonda; North Telangana- Nizamabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal,Khammam; Hyderabad District with its completely urban and distinctdevelopment pattern is treated as a separate region in itself;therefore reference to coastal Andhra indicates North coastal andSouth Coastal Andhra, while Telangana refers to North and SouthTelangana. In the Andhra region North coastal Andhra is backwardcompared to South coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema; in the Telanganaregion also North Telangana is prosperous compared to South Telanganaexcluding Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy District which again is adeveloped part of the state being the capital of the State.( Subrahmanyam:2004:539). The separate Telangana movement is basedupon perceived injustice done to the region in terms of recruitment togovernment employment, building of infrastructural facilities relatedto irrigation, power generation, and also economic drain of the regionin order to benefit the Andhra entrepreneurs. Thus the separateTelangana movement while on the one hand has become a social movementinvolving the subaltern groups whose loss of traditional occupationswas a grievance, was spearheaded on the other hand by the Telanganaemployees of the state government and the Osmania University studentswho felt cheated of their rightful share in jobs. The ranking of theregions on the basis of per capita gross domestic regional productshows that Hyderabad (including Ranga Reddy) occupies top positionduring 1995-2000. Among the other five regions, South coastal Andhrais at the top and North Telangana at the bottom. South Telanganaoccupies middle position with North Coastal Andhra above it andRayalaseema below. (ibid). The cause of concern was that thisrelative position of the regions changed adversely for Telangana after

the 1970s and the intra- regional inequalities increased in the 1990s.Added to the economic inequalities, language and cultural differencestoo were played up to bolster arguments in favor of separateTelangana. The Sri Krishna Committees Report is widely quoted onstatistics of the regions, though accused of ‘confusing’’, ‘simplisticand illogical’ was interpreted to suit each regions claims of justiceand injustice.

Politically, the expression “Seemandhra” refers to Rayalaseema andCoastal Andhra. This expression is used mostly by Telanganites torefer to non-Telangana. During the division of the state there weresome speculations that the state would be divided by uniting theRayalaseema and Telangana regions and forming a Rayala- TelanganaState. However the idea was opposed by the Telangana parties. Theuneasy alliance of developed Andhra and underdeveloped Telangana of1956 has ended not in mutually consented divorce but acrimoniousdivorce facilitated by the decision of the Congress at the centre andthe support extended to the decision by the then opposition party, theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Much of the acrimony centred around theprized possession of the capital city Hyderabad which was developedinto a high-tech city and IT capital. The secretariat theadministrative seat of the government and rest of the state governmentHead offices were situated in Hyderabad. The attempts to makeHyderabad city into a Union Territory did not take place and it wasdecided to keep the city as a common capital for a period of ten yearsuntil Andhra Pradesh builds its own capital city. ThereafterHyderabad is to function solely as the capital of Telangana. Severalcontentious issues of sharing of river waters for irrigation purposesand electricity sharing of office spaces, division of All IndiaService officers and state officers between the two states were leftundecided at the time of bi-furcation of the state or de-merger of thestate as some would have it. In the final analysis no rationalanalysis and justification in principle was made for the hastydivision of the state on the eve of General elections and the divisionwas widely seen in Andhra as an election eve calculation. Thedivision of the state could not throw up any guiding principle toresolve any similar future issues on new state formations. The use of

Article 3 of the Indian Constitution has reinforced the overridingpowers of the Centre over that of the States.

Regional Articulations and Politics of Biculturalism: United AndhraPradesh was home to three distinct (Andhra, Telangana and Rayalaseema)regional cultures not to speak of the Hyderabadi or Deccan culture.With most of the C.M.s of A.P. hailing from Rayalaseema, Telanganaseparatism has clubbed the Andhra and Rayalaseema as the ‘other’opposed to the ‘us’ of Telangana as inclusive of Hyderabadi culture.Thus in a political simplification, bipolarity of regionalism wasprojected. In the Parliamentary and State Assembly elections regionalantagonisms were given free rein. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)in its electioneering campaign relied heavily on Telangana ‘sentiment’and the opposition TDP and YSRCP are dubbed as Seemandhra parties. Inthe TRS campaign Congress was held up for being the cause of studentsuicides by its dilly dallying on the issue of separate statehood.TRS credited itself for making the Congress yield to its sustainedpressure to grant separate statehood to Telangana. In the Andhraregion political propaganda by the TDP described the YSRCP as ‘pillaCongress’(offspring of Congress) and the Congress as ‘talliCongress’(mother congress).

The release of Jagan after sixteen months in Jail just before thepolls is depicted as a sign of tacit agreement for a post pollalliance or merger understanding with the Congress. YSRCP and TRSparty were alleged by the TDP as being sympathetic to each other.Thus YSRCP in the TDP narrative became a partner in the unjustbifurcation of the A.P. state. In the case of Andhra Pradesh,Congress leaders especially those in the union cabinet and the stateministry became betrayers of the cause of united Andhra Pradesh in theview of the Andhra public. Congress had to field fresh candidates atseveral places as its leaders were not willing to contest on itsticket for the fear of inevitable defeat. The leaders of the Congressfaced the brunt of public resentment for being the part of the partywhich divided the state and lost the zeal to mount an aggressivecampaign in its favour. Thus the TDP and the YSRCP remained the maincontestants in Seemandhra. YSRCP leader Jagan was the pre pollfavourite with the pre poll predictions. TDP and the YSRCP adopted an

ambiguous stand on the issue of formation of Telangana after formallycommitting themselves in writing for bifurcation of the state. TDP’sleader Chandrababu Naidu maintained that both the regions are like twoeyes to him. Unlike YSRCP, TDP is a well established party, notcounting the period its founder President N.T. Rama Rao ruled as C.M.,Chandrababu himself functioned as C.M., for nine years until 2004.TDP had a substantial presence in Telangana and as the main oppositionparty leader he has agreed to the bifurcation of the state. YSRCPsloganeered for equal justice to both the regions, and maintained thatit was Naidu who as the opposition leader gave assent letter favouringstate bifurcation. In the event of rising identity politics, even thenational parties at the state level are reduced to playing regionalpolitics. The tale of two states revisits old questions that refuseto die like that of need for second SRC. Regional imbalances failingto be redressed even after decades of development are a source offragility. At the same time, development of particular Cities as‘growth engines’ also on hindsight appear to have the potential toexacerbate regional feelings.

Caste as an Electoral Calculus: As in any other Indian state, heretoo caste forms a crucial role in elections. Along with caste, moneytoo places a major role. Therefore it comes as no surprise thatselected candidates for electoral contest were from the dominantcastes with more than sufficient economic clout. Here it should beremembered that the formulation of the concept of ‘dominant caste’ bythe sociologist M.N. Srinivas is not really empirically demonstrablebut intuitively grasped by the subjects embedded in the Indianculture. While in the early independence years the ritual purity andhierarchically high rank with economic dominance in terms of landownership was the norm for identifying dominant class, the realizationof the power of numerical majority when concentrated in caste identityand manipulated as a collective bargaining chip has put thenumerically strong and self-consciously cohesive castes are alsoidentified as dominant castes. Traditionally, the congress rulingclass was from Brahmin and Reddy in the first decade of the stateformation. Thereafter the party was dominated mostly by Reddy andKamma caste leaders. The formation of the TDP party on the plank of‘Telugu Pride’ saw the emergence of Kamma party coming up as an

alternative to Reddy dominated Congress Party. In recent years thestate has seen the rise of Kapu caste vying for political power. ThePraja Rajyam Party of Chiranjeeevi was a platform for the Kapuaspirations for political power. The state has substantial number ofSC’s and ST’s and Muslim Minorities. These population groups of SC’sST’s and Muslim Minorities were considered as the vote banks ofCongress. But in the fast paced Indian society one change that can beseen is that no political party can be sure of vote-banks. However anextract from Gautam Pingle is illustrative: “…survey data showed that87% of Kammas and 62% of the peasant OBCs in Andhra Pradesh voted forthe TDP while 77% of the Reddys, 64% of the SCs and 60% of the Muslimsfor the Congress (Suri: 2002:Table 6). This means that the overallelection results rested with the other communities such as Kapus,“service OBCs” and STs who voted almost equally for the two majorparties(ibid) and could swing the very fine division of the floatingvote (10%) which decided which party will get the majority of seats inthe Assembly”(Pingle:2011:19).

In Andhra Pradesh on perusal of the party nominees for assemblypolls(out of 175 seats, reserved=36 and general=139) the congress, aReddy dominated party, fielded approximately 31 Reddys, 7 Kammas, 29Kapus and 9 Muslims. The TDP considered a Kamma dominant Partyfielded nearly 37 Kamas 24 Reddys, 25 Kapus and 1 Muslim. YSRCP,again a Reddy dominant party and an offshoot of the Congress, fieldedaround 54 Reddys, 15 Kammas 27 Kapus and 3 Muslims. The TDP has notfielded any Brahmins while Congress and YSRCP fielded 1 each. The TDPapart from its Kamma caste base also depends on the OBC segment of thepopulation. The aspirational caste of Kapu have been accommodated.Though Chiranjeevi hailing from Kapu community, was absorbed into theCongress, the newly flouted Jana Sena Party of his brother PawanKalyan, again a mass hero of Telugu films, lent his support to theTDP/BJP alliance. As far as vote bank is concerned YSRCP appears tohave captured the voter segment that formed the support base ofCongress i.e., the Reddy’s, Sc’s, ST’s, Christians and Muslims,YSRCP is strong in the Rayalaseema region.

In Telangana, from among the 63 TRS elected MLAs there are 14 BCs. 13SCs. 5 STs 1 Muslim, 20 Reddys, 8 Velamas, 1 Brahmin. 1 Vaishya

community members are elected. On the whole around 30 MLAs out of 63elected belong to the upper castes. (Eenadu, 17.05.2014:5). The leaderof the TRS party, K. Chandrasekhar Rao himself is a Velama which againis a forward caste. The party is identified as a Velama Party.Telangana region has Reddy’s and Velamas as the dominant class.Separate Telangana viewed as a social movement of the lower castes hasexpressed apprehensions from time to time of the return to the ‘DoralaPalana’ which translates as rule by the feudal lords. This issignificant in view of the caste composition in Telangana which ispredominantly OBC. Inukonda Thirumali (2013:192) puts this figure at89.3 percent by clubbing together OBC, SC Madigas, STs and Muslims.The higher caste forms only 10.2% in Telangana.

On the whole Reddy domination in both Andhra and Telangana politicalspace is clearly evident. In Andhra Pradesh Kapu community hasemerged as next highest contenders for political power injuxtaposition to the Kammas. However, the aspiring political groupsvie to be with the perceived winning party. In the politicalcalculations governing alignments, Congress lost heavily. In Telanganaits earlier allies like MIM showed no interest in pre-poll alliance.All the political parties are also sensitive to the changing socio-political and demographic caste dynamics in their quest for winning‘numbers’. This quest has the effect of avoiding all contentiousissues and focusing on ‘quick fix’ solutions and promising immediatevisible gains to the poor and numerical voting majority which is oneform of quid pro quo practice. The political parties being not based onideologies but on catch-all strategies are accommodative enough toinclude disparate claims of diverse sections of society. The talesthey spin in high lighting their merits, and disparaging theirpolitical opponents achievements may be considered as competingdiscourses. But of legitimacy, it is once again an intangiblepolitical capital that is to be achieved by each party by fulfillingits poll promises and being open to dialogue on issues that crop upduring the course of its tenure. Mandate of a political party is achance given to them to prove their worth, while the electoratereserves its judgment and delivers its verdict in the next elections.

Moves, Countermoves and the Checkmate: The 2009 elections saw YSRajasekhar Reddy leading the Congress Party to victory and securing asecond term as Chief Minister of the State. The TDP TRS alliancecould not win this election. The entry of Praja Rajyam party foundedby Telugu Movie Actor Chiranjeevi and LokSatta party split theopposition votes. The sudden demise of YSR, the then CM in aHelicopter crash in Nallamala forest has changed the politicalequations in the State. His son MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy took up asignature campaign from the MLAs to bolster support for himself as thenext CM. However this was not to the liking of the Congress HighCommand and it declared the Finance Minister K. Rosaiah as the interimCM. soon afterwards YS Jagan took up a consolence tour (Odarpu Yatra)to meet the families of those who gave up their lives on hearing thedemise of Rajasekhar Reddy. When he refused to stop the yatra andthreatened with disciplinary action, he resigned from his MP seat andestablished the new party YSR Congress Party. A series of steps weretaken to contain the growing influence of the YSRCP. Even the TDPwhich has recognized him to be the chief threat to their powerambition targeted him as a heir to the corruption of the late CMRajasekhar Reddy. Meanwhile the Congress had conducted secret parleyswith Chiranjeevi and he agreed to merge the PR party into theCongress. In return he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and made acentral Minister while some of his former party members like CRamachandraiah, Ganta Srinivas Rao became ministers in the AP Cabinet.In the bye- elections held in 2012 YSRCP won the majority of theseats. Shortly afterwards Jaganmohan Reddy was jailed for cases ondisproportionate assets. Jagan’s mother and MLA, Smt. Vijayalakshmibecame the honorary President of the YSRCP.

During this period the separate Telangana movement became strong dueto the fast unto death undertaken by KCR and the resultant Union HomeMinister’s declaration in principle of the willingness of the CongressParty to create a separate State of Telangana. The separate Telanganamovement gradually was centered around the Telangana Joint ActionCommittee headed by Prof. Kodandaram of the Osmania University,Gazetted and non-gazetted employees organisations, Teachers andLawyers became members of the TJAC. Student suicides have been thefuel for the separate Telangana movement and had given it a strong

‘sentiment’ and emotive appeal. The phenomenon of accepting thesesuicides as a ‘method’ of agitation and valid form of protest is a newtrend in Indian Democracy. All arguments on merits of statebifurcation were sought to be silenced by the emotive appeal orsympathetic outrage for the self-sacrifice of the suicides of thestudents and youth of Telangana. All parties of Telangana had to yieldto popular pressure in making a common cause to strive for achievingseparate Telangana. The Parliament and the Assembly became the arenafor fighting for the cause.

Pre-Poll Scenario: Gradually the stage was set for the bifurcation ofthe State and the parties started to make calculations in the comingelections. Y S Jagan’s sister Sharmila took up a PadaYatra called it“Maro Praja Prasthanam”. The TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu undertook a2,817 Kms. for 208 days long padaYatra “VasthunnaMeeKosam” fromHindupur in Anantapur District. He turned his padayatra into anelectoral campaign. The immediate precursor of successful padayatra’sin the state was YSR, who in 2003 under took a padayatra under thename “PrajaPrasthanam” and toured for 1,500 kms. From Chevella in R.R.District to Itchapuram in Srikakulam District. He won the 2004elections. Shortly before bifurcation Jagan was released from Jailand his political tours were called “YSR Janabheri” which flagged offfrom Tirupathi and his anti-bifurcation campaign was designated“Samaikya Sankharavam”. Besides the continuation of YSRs welfareschemes like ‘Arogyashree’ one of the election eve promises of Jaganwas to create a Rs.3,000 crore farm prices stabilization fund to helpthe farmers.

The election manifestoes of the political parties were released andthe main poll eve promises of Chandrababu Naidu was the waiver of farmloans to the tune of Rs. 1,00,000 and also to those of DWCRA self helpgroups. These DWACRA women self-help groups have become a captivesegment for political manipulation. Chandrababu announced that ifelected to power he would appoint a BC deputy chief Minister and aKapu deputy C.M. Similarly in Telangana he announced the chiefMinisterial candidate as B.C. leader R. Krishnaih. However, inAndhra, political campaigning focused on development andreconstruction of the truncated state, while simultaneously declaring

free provisions and write-offs of loans to farmers and women of DWCRAself- help groups. Chandrababu promised to develop A.P. on the linesof Singapore. In a congress poll campaign at Hindupur addressed byRahul Gandhi, Rahul spoke of the special status to Andhra Pradesh, aquick finalisation of capital issue, special packages to north coastalAndhra and Rayalaseema, establishment of IITs, IIMs, Centraluniversity and overall development of Andhra Pradesh ( Eenadu,1.05.2014).

In Telangana the campaigning is about who has consistently fought forthe separate state. KCR promised to make a Dalit a Chief Minister ofTelangana if TRS is voted to power. KCR has included a vision of“Bangaru Telangana” (GoldenTelangana) an equivalent of‘Swarnandhrapradesh” (Golden Andhra Pradesh) of Chandrababu. Hisother poll assurances are waiver of farm loans below one lakh,providing two room houses at a cost of three lakhs to the poor, Oldage, widow and disabled pensions at Rs 1500 per month, Telanganaspecial increment and implementation of central scales to stategovernment employees, special budget provision for SC, ST welfare,regularization of contract employees, free education from KG to PGetc. The Times-Now exit polls on Parliamentary seats in A.P.predicted9-14 seats to the TDP/BJP, TRS 8-12, YCP 18-27, Congress 3-6.(Source:Andhra Jyothi:17.05.2014). Lagadapati Rajgopal ex Congress MP who hadhis own election predictions prepared supposedly had it right thistime too. (see Table below).

Table.1. Opinion polls-2014, A.P

Assembly results in brackets. Source: Andhra Jyothi:

Party Lagadapati NDTV CNN-IBN

AndhraTDP/BJP 19-22; (115-

125)13;(75-95)

11-15

YCP 3-6;(45-55) 12;(80-100)

11-15

TelanganaTDP/BJP 3-4(18-22)) 2 2-4TRS 8-14;(50-60) 11 8-12Congress 3-5;(30-40) 3 3-5Others 1(7-9) 1 -

Political Parties and Personalities: At the time of going for theelections the State was placed under President’s rule, as theincumbent C.M. Mr. Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy has resigned in protestagainst the division of the state. A few words about the party inpower, the Congress: Congress was the ruling party from 2004 to 2014.Congress was led to victory under the leadership of YS RajasekharReddy. His death in a helicopter crash on 2.09.2009 has been adecisive factor in the changes in the politicalscape of AndhraPradesh. He was a popular and charismatic leader and brought aboutsome fundamental changes in the lives of the common man throughwelfare measures. The charges of corruption against him were a murmurduring his life time which reached a crescendo a few months after hisdeath and more particularly since the launching of a separate party byhis son YS Jaganmohan Reddy. The initial scramble for the legacy ofYSR soon changed into one that of discrediting the departed leader.In this the main opposition party leaders charges of corruptionagainst the congress regime were not warded off successfully. In factby accepting the corruption charges and zeroing on Jagan as the solebeneficiary of the largesse flowing out of the corruption Congressimplicitly became an accomplice to the corruption alleged by theopposition. Dharmana Prasada Rao, Sabita Indra Reddy, PonnalaLaxmaiah, Geeta Reddy, Mopidevi were charged of facilitating thecorruption especially in lands and mines, allotment of land for SEZsthrough APIIC, favouring particular contractors in the award ofIrrigation Projects. Top bureaucrats like Srilakshmi, B.P. Acharyawere incarcerated while other accused officers in the bureaucracycould wriggle out of serious action against them. In a Tracker pollby CNN-IBN-CSDS-The Hindu Survey found that corruption of Jagan didnot weigh very heavily in the mind of the voter and Jagan scored asthe favourite for leading A.P.

The leaders who succeeded YSR as C.M.s of Andhra Pradesh, K. Rosaiahand N.Kiran Kumar Reddy could not win the confidence of their cabinetand other MLAs. Kiran was touted as becoming a C.M. through sealedcover. The infighting continued with promoting themselves assuccessors to the incumbents and discrediting the incumbents through

non-cooperation, open criticism, and representing to the Congress highcommand or in-charge Congress officials. Parallelly the congress hasceded ground to the strengthening separate Telangana movement by beingneutral at the state level and putting the onus of decision on theirParty leadership at the national level. The subsequent decision ofthe Congress to create a separate state on the eve of elections hasraised the hackles of the common man in Andhra Pradesh. The APNGOswent on strike for more than 60 days in opposition to state division.Pressure was mounted on the union cabinet ministers and MPs of Andhrato quit their posts. But the people’s representatives held on totheir posts and did not give in to the popular sentiment. Thus whenelections were declared most of these leaders were not in a positionto move freely in their own constituencies for fear of popularreprisals. At this juncture some f the leaders from the Congresschose to join other parties like the TDP and YSRCP and JaiSamaikyandhra Party. Union Cabinet Minister DaggupatiPurandhareshwari daughter of TDP founder president NT Rama Rao choseto join the BJP. By putting the onus of decision on the Congress highcommand the Cabinet Ministers, MPs and MLA’s put the party future injeopardy and as individuals some of them tried to salvage theirpolitical carriers by joining other parties. The realignments ofpolitical elite has weakened the Congress and strengthened the TDP andYSRCP. In a manner of speaking, already leaders have voted with theirfeet away from Congress. The lack of leadership in the Congress, whoby force of personality alone could have united the fractious secondrung leaders into a focused pursuit of power has drawn the othermonolithic party leaders into sharp focus.

A.P.Parliamentary and Assembly Election Results: In the united AndhraPradesh there were 42 Parliamentary seats. In 2004 and 2009 Congresssent a majority 32 MPs from these seats. On Bifurcation the MP seatsin residual Andhra Pradesh were 25 and in the new Telangana State 17seats.

Table. 2. Lok Sabha Results-2014 and Change from 2009 to 2014: State of A.P

(Source: EPW, Statistics: National Election Study 2014: Appendix IV)

Results in the 25 Lok Sabha Constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, 2014:Congress 0 ; TDP 15; BJP 2; YCRCP 8. Results in the AP Reserved LokSabha Constituencies: Amalapuram, Chittoor, Bapatla SC constituencies:TDP; Tirupathi (SC): YCRCP; Araku (ST): YCRCP.(See Table 2 ).

APCC President N. Raghuveera Reddy at the helm failed to winany seat from 25 Parliamentary and 175 Assembly constituencies inSeemandhra. The anger against the INC was so intense in Andhra,neither the stature of the leaders nor poll promises could assuage it.The party was thrown out lock, stock and barrel. In the words ofPalshikar, “Andhra was lost through its state level dynamics-bothpertaining to party and to the division of the state. Once itserstwhile leader YS Rajasekhar Reddy departed, the party in that statealso lost an ability to govern effectively”. Also, “In united AP, forevery 3 fully satisfied voters, 33 were fully dissatisfied…Theperception of governance failure and the consequent adverse mediapublicity ensured the downfall of the Party.”(Palshikar:2014:63). Incontrast well before the elections slogans of the TDP like ‘Joburavallante Babu Ravali’ (want a job, bring back Babu) and theassertion ‘Aayana Vasthunnadu’ (he is coming [as C.M.]) etc. point tothe meticulously planned party propaganda and its execution. As aseasoned politician Babu could foresee that the main opposition to his

Parties Seatscontested 2014

SeatsWon2014

SeatChangefrom2009

Vote(%)

2014

VoteChangefrom2009

Congress 25 0 -21 2.84 -37.87NDA 25 17 13 47.71 12.63BJP 4 2 2 7.18 5.72TDP 21 15 11 40.53 6.92YSR-Congress 25 8 8 45.38 45.38NOTA 25 0 0 0.64 0.64Other Parties 283 0 0 3.43  -20.78

dream of capturing political power is Jagan, and he lost noopportunity in branding his opponent as criminally corrupt, ridiculinghim for his inexperience etc. Also sensing the pro Modi wave he lostno time in aligning with the BJP led National Democratic Allliancecoalition at the centre which proved to be a master stroke. In factthere was some opposition to the move from aspirants to TDP partytickets as well as BJP party President of Telangana. Jana Sena PartyJSP) of the actor brother Pawan Kalyan of actor-politicianChiranjeevi, who found the party just before the Elections campaignedon behalf of TDP- BJP alliance and explicitly against the YSRCP. Healso contributed to lend charisma to the TDP/BJP campaign besideshelping the consolidation of the Kapu vote in favour of the coalition.The BJP which entered into an alliance in both the regions with theTDP contested 45 of the 117 Assembly and 8 of the 17 Lok Sabha seatsin Telangana and 12 of the 175 Assembly and 4 of the 25 Lok Sabhaseats in Seemandhra. In Seemandhra the BJP won 2 of the 4 Lok Sabhaseats from Visakhapatnam and Narasapuram and won 4 Assembly seats.Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Andhra President K. Hari Babu had asurprise win from Vishakapatnam Parliamentary constituency over Y.Vijayamma of YSRCP. Its Telangana President G. Kishan Reddy won fromAmberpet constituency.

The A.P. Assembly results (SeeTable 3) reflected the region wisestrengths and weaknesses of the contesting political parties. TheParty in the lead, the TDP secured 102 seats or 106 seats with BJPcontributing 4 seats. Its performance was powerful in the coastalAndhra, East and West Godavari Districts, Krishna, Guntur andAnantapur in the Seema region. YSR Congress Party, leader Y.S.Jaganmohan Reddy, son of deceased C.M. YS Rajasekhar Reddy won 30 outof 52 seats in Rayalaseema districts of Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor butfared poorly in the Rayalaseema District of Anantapur. The Party wononly 37 out of 123 seats in coastal Andhra and doing better than TDPin Nellore and Prakasham Disricts, and totally winning 67 Assemblyseats . Its candidate Bhuma Sobha Nagi Reddy who died in a roadaccident during campaigning, created history by winning posthumouslythe Allagadda Assembly seat posthumously with a majority of 16, 158votes. YSR Congress also lost due to going alone without any allies.It was totally targeted by the entire range of parties in A.P. It is

no exaggeration to say that it has faced the anti-incumbency factor bybeing associated with YSRs Chief Ministerial performance and ensuingcorruption charges though the party was a young party with noexperience of being in power. But the party has put up a good fightas evident from its share of votes vis-a –vis TDP. Two Independentcandidates from Pithapuram and Chirala also won. Jai SamaikhyandhraParty of former Chief Minister of AP Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy did not winany votes and was wiped out.

Table.3. Results of the Andhra PradeshState Assembly 2014

District Congress

TDP/BJP YCP OTHERS

Anantapur - 12 2 -Kadapa - 1 9 -Kurnool - 3 11Chittoor - 6 8 -Srikakulam - 7 3 -Vizianagaram

- 6 3 -

Visakhapatnam

- 12 3 -

EastGodavari

- 13 5 1

WestGodavari

- 15 - -

Krishna - 11 5 -Guntur 12 5 -Prakasham 5 6 1Nellore 3 7 0Total - 106 67 2

(Source:EPW,Statistics:National Election Study 2014:Appendix IV)

Table.4.Lok Sabha Results-2014 and Change from 2009 to 2014: State of T.S

Partie Seats Seats Seat Vote(% Vote

scontested2014

Won2014

Changefrom2009

) 2014

Change

from2009

Congress 16 2 -10 24.48

-11.83

NDA 17 2 0 22.56 3.47BJP 8 1 1 10.37 3.19TDP 9 1 -1 12.20 0.29TRS 17 11 9 34.67 19.32YSRCP 13 1 1 4.45 4.45AIMIM 4 1 0 3.50 1.67NOTA 17 0 0 0.80 0.80

Others 215 0 0 9.54-

17.88 (Source:EPW,Statistics:National Election Study 2014:Appendix IV)

.

Table.5. Results of the Telangana State Assembly

District TRS INC TDP BJP MIM YCP OTHERS

HYDERABAD 1 - 3 4 7 - -ADILABAD 7 1 - - - - 2(BSP)KHAMMAM 1 4 1 - - 3 1(CPI-

M)KARIMNAGAR 12 1 - - - - -MAHBUBNAGAR 7 5 2 - - - -MEDAK 8 2 - - - - -NALGONDA 6 5 - - - - 1(CPI)NIZAMABAD 9 - - - - - -RANGAREDDY 4 2 7 1 - - -WARANGAL 8 1 2 - - - 1TOTAL 63 21 15 5 7 3 5

(Source:EPW,Statistics:National Election Study 2014:Appendix IV)

Results of the 17 Parliamentary seats in Telangana, 2014 : TRS 11; Congress 2; BJP, TDP 1; YSRCP 1; MIM 1. From the Loksabha 3 SC constituency seats of Peddapali and Warangal TRS won; Nagarkurnool (SC) Congress; and 2 ST seats in Adilabad and Mahabubababad TRS candidates were victorious(See Table 3). The TRS which in 2009 won 2 MP seats now had a undisputed victory as far as Parliamentary elections are concerned.

In the Telangana Assembly elections, under TPCC President Ponnala Laxmaiah Congress won 21 seats out of 119. The Kalwakurthy Assembly result which was delayed due to snags in the ATM finally was declared in the favour of Congress candidate Challa Vamschichand Reddy who won by the slim majority of 78 votes over rival BJP candidate. When the TRS has gone back on its assurance of pre-poll alliance, the bewildered party went to the polls with a brave face but with a faint heart. The lack of leadership, infighting and mutual suspicion has hindered the party in putting up a united front and reaping the benefits of ‘keeping the promise’ of creation of Telangana state at the risk of losing its base in Andhra. The seats it won are attributed to the good work of the contestants personally. The lackadaisical approach is reflected in poll campaigning. The failure of the campaigning is reflected in the lack of catchy slogans to capture the imagination of the voters. Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) launched in 2001 and headed by K. Chandrasekhar Rao now wins 11 of the 17 loksabha seats and 63 of the 119 member Telangana Assembly.

In the Assembly results pertaining to Telangana where the total seatsare 119, Congress with a score of 21, yielded the top post to TRSwhich won 63 seats (See Table 5). With the delayed result fromKalwakurthy going to Congress, Congress with 21 seats stood second andthe TDP/BJP combine stood next to Congress with a tally of 20 seats.TRS which is estimated to be strong in Northern Telangana Districtskept upto its expectations and also gained in South Telangana and madean impressive win of 18 seats out of the 55 seats.(See Table 6).

Out of 19 SC Assembly seats 13 were won by TRS. Out of 12 STconstituencies it won 5. Asaduddin Owaisi led Majlis –e-Ittehadul

Muslimeen Party (MIM), retained its traditional vote bank as well asthe seven seats it was habitually winning. CPI and CPI-M won one seateach. Both parties won 5 seats in 2009 elections while it is only 2now. CPI allied with Congress. The CPI had 4 seats earlier inTelangana now contested 7 but only from Devarakonda in NalgondaDistrict it could win. CPI leader Narayana lost from Khmammam LokSabha constituency. The CPI(M) contested in 34 Assembly constituenciesbut won from only Bhadrachalam. The one independent candidate who wasa Congress rebel candidate won is Donthi Madhav Reddy from Narsampet,Warangal District.

Table.6. Results of the Telangana State MLAs and MPs- District wise.

North Telangana: TRS Score South Telangana : TRS Score

(Source: NamastheTelangana dt.17.05.2014)

In Telangana the parties that were in the reckoning were the Congress,TRS, TDP, MIM, CPI and CPI-M. The parties that lost out were theMajlis BachaoTehreek (MBT) under the leadership of Amjadullah Khancontested 6 assembly and 2 Parliament seats in Telangana but did notwin in any. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which made an entry into A.P.politics under G. Srinivas Yadav contested 21 Assembly seats, LokSatta Party (LSP) leader Jayaprakash Narayan who was the lonelegislator from Kukatpally in 2009, fielded contestants in 18 Assemblyseats but failed to win any besides losing his own. The TDP-BJP haddone well in the Greater Hyderabad region by winning the 14 of the 24Assembly constituencies. Of these the BJP won 5 seats. Congresswhich in 2009 had 14 seats lost all. TRS won 3 seats from

District MLAs MPsAdilabad 7/10 1/1Karimnagar

12/13

2/2

Nizamabad

9/91/1

Warangal 8/12 2/2Khammam 1/10 0/1Total 37/5

46/7

District MLAs MPsMahbubnagar

7/14 1/2

RangaReddy

4/4 1 /2

Medak 8/10 2/2Hyderabad 1/5 0/2Nalgonda 6/12 1 /

2Total 26/6

55/10

Secunderabad, Malkajgiri and Patancheru. MIM won seven seats fromCharminar, Chandrayanagutta, Malakpet, Karwan, Bahadurpura, Nampallyand Yakutpura. The concerns of the large number of settlers overbifurcation as well as the influence of Modi wave are the factorsapparently behind the TDP-BJP win. However BJP always had a presencein the city and given that it had 4 seats in 2009, the gain is only 1seat. But for the TDP which had a lone seat in 2009 the gains areimmense- an additional 8 seats. Clearly the alliance with BJP workedin favour of TDP or taking into consideration that the Andhra votersreposed faith in TDP at Andhra, the same sentiment may have hadinfluenced the settlers’ choice.

The polarisation of votes to a few parties and eliminating several newparties wherein their share is less than NOTA indicates that theelectorate is more focussed and the electoral issues have come to becondensed to a few high priority issues. While in the case of Andhrathe focus was a balance between populism and development, in Telanganathe assertion of separate identity appears to have a sway. There doesnot appear to be huge inconsistencies in voting for Parties inParliamentary and Assembly elections.

Poll Analysis: This study is a post poll analysis. The data regardingopinion polls, exit polls are readily available for comment. Thefinal results are also out. As a political science analyst, there isa habitual reservation about the explicitly stated public utterancesand the real unstated preferences of the voters. If what is stated bythe voter is considered as true, then the question arises on thepremises on which the conclusion is drawn. If such premises can beknown then one can analyse what is the focal issue for the majority ofvoters – personal integrity of the candidate, the principles andagenda of the party, economic policies, or the attractiveness of thepopular schemes, caste and community affiliation of the contestantetc. Election studies do not focus on such variables with qualitativeimplications. (Lama –Rewal:2009). To what extent such statements arepart of the band-wagon syndrome, and how much are the final results aresult of demonstration effect rather than an exercise of comparativeweighing of the competitive claims and poll promises of multipleparties by an average voter is a moot point bringing into question the

bandied fair and free elections and electoral choice in a democraticcountry. The assumptions are that the average voter is influenced bythe public opinion locally on the merits of the desirability of votingfor a particular party candidate, again depending on local issues.There are analysis on voting behaviour where voting depends on partypreference alone irrespective of who the candidate is; solely guidedby caste and community affiliation of the candidate; swayed by mediaassertion of likely winner and wants to back the winning candidate,party preference depending upon the voters economic class. This typeof analysis brings to attention the criss-crossing of multiple factorsin voting preferences. More importantly it also draws attention tothe segment which exercises free choice and makes clear that it is theunderprivileged that are more predictable in their preferences.Procedurally, democracy has become stable in India and the deepeningof democracy is also beyond doubt. But the spending of huge amountsin elections, luring the electorate by cash incentives, free liquor,and consumer goods to participate and vote for Party candidates puts aquestion mark on the huge voter turn-out rates. There appears to be asuspicious link between the mounting poll expenditure beyond theElection Commission’s permitted limits and the increasing voterparticipation at a time where in American and other Westerndemocracies voter apathy is a matter of concern. Going by the numberof superrich contestants in the fray, and increasing predilection ofbusiness persons taking to politics, democracy appears to betransforming into a plutocracy. Of the 272.52 crores seized by the ECcountrywide, 127.52 crores was from A.P. Similarly 10.39 lakh litresof liquor was seized from A.P.(Eenadu:1.5.2014).

Polling in A.P. was in two phases. April 30, 2014 (phase 7) and 7 May2014 (phase 8) in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Voter turnout hasbeen impressive except in Greater Hyderabad region. This is contraryto the observed phenomenon of voter turn-out being higher in urbanareas than in the rural. While pointing out the lowering of votingage to 18 by the passing of the 62nd Constitutional Amendment bill in1988, according to David Butler et.al., “the upward trend in voterturnout indicates a greater involvement of the electorate and more andmore voters become aware of the electoral system and understand thepower of their ballot”(1997:126). All India total turnout rate is

66.4%; Male Turnout rate is 67.09% ; Female turnout is 65.63%. Out ofthe 4.8 crore voters who cast their vote in united A.P. as per theElection Commission data, the votes polled under NOTA is 2,82, 164 or0.7% of vote share. Where the margin of victory is slim there theexercise of NOTA would have made a difference between winning andlosing.

Table.7. Results of the Voter Turnout data from Andhra Pradesh

(Source:eci.nic.in/eci_m ain

1/GE2014/STATE_WISE_TURNOUT.)

Table.8. Shift in the votes AP 2014

(Source: E.Venkatesu andK.C.Suri The Hindu, 25May, 2014).

Election analysis hasmostly restricted itself to voter behaviour and participation,strength of the political party in terms of cadre-strength at grassroot levels, vote- banks on caste and community, enrolment intoparties, participation or electoral turn-over, presence and absence ofcharismatic leaders, party ideology etc. Party ideology as most ofthe parties are centrist parties with a bent towards right or left tovarying degrees, never far too right or far too left has been the

Male Electors 32670930

Female Electors

32267820

Male Voters 24352913

Female Voters

24005632

Male Turnout 74.54%

Female Turnout 74.39%

Total Voters 48358545Total Turnout 74.47%

PoliticalParties

Seatswon-A.P.

Vote% SeatsWon-TS

Vote%

INC 0 2.8 2 24.5TDP+BJP

17 47.7 2 22.6

TRS - - 11 34.7YSRCP 8 45.4 1 4.5AIMIM 0 0.1 1 3.5

secret of the stability of Indian political system. There are nearlyno neo-conservative parties. All parties are unanimous in beingprogressive and modernist.

Table.9.Social Basis of Voting in Andhra and Telangana in Lok SabhaElections:

Category TDP+BJP

YSRCP

Congress

TDP+BJP

TRS

SC 32 66 17 20 33STs 39 54 13 25 38BCs 55 38 25 23 36MiddlepeasantCastes

54 37 13 24 39

UpperCastes

56 38 27 46 27

Muslims 33 67 58 14 17(Source: E.Venkatesu and K.C.Suri, The Hindu, 25 May, 2014.)

Economic agenda is also pro-development and welfaristic. Thedevelopment aspect addresses the issues of assurances of more economicgrowth and creation of employment opportunities rather than specifyingany industrial policy. Welfare in the local context translates tooffering of various subsidies, write offs, provision of free amenities(subsumed under the euphemism of ‘freebies’). Pranab Bardhan remarksthat “we have seen that the political arithematic of group equity anddemocratic mobilization , apart from bank-replacing the treasuries anddeliberately the governments capacity to invest in necessary socialand economic infrastructure, has been eating away the institutionalinsulation of administrative and economic decision-making at thecentral and , in particular , at the state levels, with adverseconsequences for development and for governance”.(Bardhan:2001:239).Jagannatham Begari “The political leadership has been lumpenized asmany people who have been entering politics in the state of AndhraPradesh for the last two decades have been from the real estatebusiness, liquor mafia and elite classes. They emerged from theleakages of huge resources that the state invested in irrigation,roads, public enterprises, mining and other infrastructuraldevelopment projects. This pattern of public expenditure through

contractors gave rise to a neo-rich class and a wide range ofmiddlemen as they were the direct beneficiaries of the leakages ofpublic funds…They have become an important component of the politicalprocesses of the state.”(2014:235). Commenting on YSR regime,Srinivasulu says “networks involving contractors, builders, realestate developers, corporate operators, and racketeers of various huesare part of the regime’s support structure. The nexus with thesegroups is seen by its critics as institutionalizing corruption.”(Srinivasulu:2011:302). Corruption has become a structural feature.Political patronage by the political parties when in power transformsinto political capital to fight for the next elections.

Apart from the personal charisma of the leaders, how Media is usedalso is a major concern in election results. Publicity, propaganda,visibility, is achieved through the use of Media especially the audio-visual media i.e., the television. In AP Newspapers and televisionchannels are either owned or closely affiliated with politicalleaders. While the Eenadu is a partisan of TDP, Sakshi is owned byJagan. The lack of objectivity in news reporting is a matter of graveconcern. The running of defamatory, derogatory and distorting newsitems on the political adversaries is the norm rather than theexception. The leading Telugu News papers even petitioned the PressCouncil of India on the content of their news rivals. The Media whichcan strongly influence voter behaviour through dissemination ofpolitical information if not impartial and objective underminesdemocracy and citizen’s right to factual information.

Conclusion: The results of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have firmlyaffirmed the rootedness of the Regional Parties. The legacy of theTDP to Andhra Pradesh is that the Congress style of imposing leadersis seen as an affront to the “Telugu pride.” A C.M. aspirant has to beseen as accessible to people, and should have the capability of givinga cohesive political image of the party to the people. The Partieshave to be as broad based as possible and this may give them a chanceat the hustings. These elections have reinforced once again that whenleadership is not strong enough to override the primordialaffiliations, parochial interests would have the final say. Both thewinning parties had to string together their success from selected

pockets of mini waves and local dominations (see Tables 6&9). TDPsChandrababu Naidu had aroused many reservations in his previous stintas Chief Minister. Commenting on 2004 A.P. elections Srinivasulu pinpointed Chandrababu as “[building] his organisational base onmanagerial lines through an elaborate network based on distribution ofspoils. Thus the organisational base of the TDP at different levelsbegan to comprise people belonging to the class of contractors,builders and even speculators”.(Srinivas:2007:196,197). Chandrababuhad overcome the reservations of the electorate by showcasingHyderabad city which he had been instrumental in making it a softwarehub, now more familiarly called the Hi-tech city. His proven abilityas a development oriented leader and his strategic alliance with Modias an ally who would be obliging in giving more funds to build Andhraanew were the factors influencing voters choice. Also due to thestrong cadre base, and the attention paid to hold the party togethereven when it was not in power has shown to advantage compared to otherparties. Leaders who have defected from Congress to escape theevident destiny were given tickets by TDP and some of them tastedsuccess in the elections. However going by the vote share of YSRCP andTDP in the Loksabha elections, YSRCP on its own had a share of 45.38%compared to TDP’s 40.53%. Only on adding the BJP’s 7.18% vote sharecould the TDP outscore by a mere 2% and odd its main rival the YSRCP.The gap is same even in the Assembly elections in the undivided stateof A.P. Therefore, the alliance with BJP alone had put the TDP intothe driving seat.

In Telangana too, many Congress and TDP leaders joined the TRSparty during the election season. This trend is an evidence of therise of a professional class of politicians who would spend and earnin politics transcending the flimsy barriers of party affiliations.The TRS party, which was a party of the movement for separateTelangana, had succeeded in mobilizing a multi-class, multi-castesupport base. A section of the first time contenders on TRS ticketsare from agitation groups of students, NGO’s, cultural organisationsand Telangana martyr families. At the same time due importance wasgiven to those who had winning chances irrespective of their latejoining in the TRS party. KCRs heli-hopping to constituencies tomake election speeches had a positive effect on the electoral outcomes

of the TRS candidates. TJAC has been marginalised in the electionprocess. Many problems like that of Naxallites, and other inter-stateissues on water and power sharing have been swept under the carpet asadministrative issues to be tackled from a position of power.

The neo-liberal agenda of globalization policies for ‘development’adopted by successive governments has brought forward a contradictionin the electoral politics of the parties. There is a growingdivergence between the stated sympathies as towards farmers, and otherpoor sections of the people including especially the Tribal populationand the ‘development’ policies which are displacing them from theirlivelihoods is a grave cause of concern. During these elections inthe State gender representation was given a go-by. There is noemphasis on ecological concerns, sustainable development, or concreteplans to make agriculture a paying prospect to the farmers. Thelowering of the voting age and the emphasis on near compulsoryparticipation in elections raises the concerns of voting withdiscrimination and judgement. The raising participation of votersdefinitely symbolizes the growing expectations of the people from thegovernment and not necessarily a symbolic exercise in citizen’sparticipation in the democratic process. When governance has becomemore complex and technology driven and population is manipulated intogovernability, ever more vigilance and evaluation of governmentpolicies and its administration is necessary. The instance of MLAs andMPs from Andhra sticking to their positions in Union Cabinet and otherpower positions at the state level also brings into question thecontrol of the constituency over the elected representatives duringtheir term of five years. Elections in India have come to age fromthe days of poll violence involving snatching of ballot boxes toeliminating opposition candidates to the present day smooth operationof balloting through Electronic voting machines. The introduction ofthe anti-defection law has also brought about political stability to alarge extent. It is time to think of more innovations in making ourdemocratic processes and houses more inclusive and accountable.

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