Coming up: India’s quinquennial dance of democracy

India, the world’s largest democracy with 900 million registered voters, will be out shopping for a new government and its next prime minister in polls spanning seven phases starting this Thursday. Dance of the elephantine democracy, this quinquennial carnival (some say it’s turned into a circus) otherwise known as general elections sees eligible Indians voting their will to elect representatives from their constituencies. These elected few then go on to form a government at the centre (a.k.a. New Delhi) that is tasked with running the country for the next five years. The head of the ruling party or alliance is usually instituted as the next prime minister.

In 2014, Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance came to power on the back of a rare and sweeping majority of 336 seats in India’s Lok Sabha (the lower house of parliament). The BJP bagged 282 seats, 10 more than the 272 required for a simple majority in a 543-seat election. The Indian electorate hadn’t given a clearer mandate favouring one party or alliance since 1984, with every single government since the 1989 elections being cobbled together through a coalition (until 2014).

While democracy is defined as the people’s rule, it has often been criticised as becoming the majority’s rule. In a country as heterogeneous as India, the majority’s rule can be blamed for disregarding minorities — even for being anti-minority in extreme cases. And that remains one of the most stinging ills of democracy.

Make no mistake: Elections 2019 is no walk in the park for any party, with Indian voters notorious for their fickle-mindedness. A fractured mandate is nothing but a demonstration of the electorate’s contrasting dreams and nightmares. When 900 million — or at least a majority of those that have exercised their right — vote one single party or alliance to power, the writing is out there on the wall. More than 67 years after the first vote in independent India made its way into a ballot box, the good news is that when Indian voters cast their vote, they don’t necessarily vote their caste anymore. The bad news, however, is that they continue to be swayed by vote bank politics, populist and polarising pressures as well as corrupt and often criminal politicians.

Psephologists may tell you otherwise, but predicting the outcome of elections with such a vast electorate and disjointed interests is more of an art than science. We won’t hazard a guess as to who will win, but we assure you that we will capture for you this colourful and convivial carnival in all its grandeur. Once again staying true to our promise of pursuing boots-on-the-ground journalism to cover news that matters to our audience, senior Khaleej Times journalists will traverse the length and breadth of India over the next six weeks to capture the hopes and ambitions of the world’s largest electorate. We’ll bring you balanced, impartial and dispassionate election news coupled with unprejudiced and unadulterated views, straight from ground zero, in multimedia format, at a time of your convenience and to a device of your choice. As the world’s largest democracy gets ready to dance to the tune of its electorate, you, the Khaleej

Times’ privileged audience, gets a front-row seat. May the best dancer win.