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The Maharashtra PilotMonday October 13, 2014 | www.mah-pilot.in

WILL THE MODI-FICATION HAPPEN?IT DEPENDS ON WHOM YOU ASK. There are supporters of PM Narendra Modi, there are also supportres of Congress and Shiv Sena. The Maharashtra Pilot analysis if the Modi magic will cast its spell again. Che Kurrien, Editor

The Modi magic took us by storm in May 2014. The magic was seen again

at Madison Square Garden last month. With the coming state elections, this issue of The Maharashtra Pilot, analyses if this state is going to get modi-fied too. The state also just witnessed the break-up of a 25 year-old alliance between the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena. How much will Shiv Sena and BJP be affected by this break-up, we wonder. The media has gone all-out and put its best efforts to make sure that there is maximum voting this year, from various parts of the state. We are excited for October 15, 2014.

Will the BJP conquer Maharashtra or will Congress be able to see a new sunrise for itself. Only time will tell. Happy reading!

THE DAILY EDITORIAL

aroon purie

Just when we thought the frenzy of elections was over, interesting times are

here again. The forthcoming state polls in Haryana and Maharashtra are especially significant because of how the BJP, to borrow a poker term, has gone ‘all-in’. The party, now run by Narendra Modi’s trusted aide and chief election strategist Amit Shah, has decided to flex its muscles by shunning its coalition partners. Its idea is to explore its popularity, unfettered by electoral allies, in both the states by riding the so-called Modi wave. For the Prime Minister, fresh from his historic victory in the 2014 General Elections as well as from reverses in the subsequent bypolls, these elections have therefore become a test of his personal popularity. A poor performance would take some of the shine off, and give oxygen to the so far isolated centres of

dissent within the party against the Modi-Shah combination. Thumping victories, on the other hand, would allow the two to consolidate their hold on the party and the Central government.

the saffron allianceThis high-risk, high-reward gamble is evident from the manner in which the saffron

alliance that had been at work in Maharashtra for 25 years, with BJP as the junior partner and Shiv Sena as the dominant regional force, came to an end. After their sensational victory at the Centre, the BJP leadership believed that the balance of power in the state had to be reversed. A round of routine

PM Narendra Modi at the Madison Square Garden, Brooklyn

Contd on pg 2

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The Maharashtra Pilot | State Elections contd. from page 1

squabbling over a seat-sharing formula with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray allowed Shah to abandon any serious efforts to save the partnership. The splintering of ties has so shaken the political order in the state that MNS chief Raj Thackeray has hinted at teaming with his estranged cousin in the Shiv Sena to check Modi’s charge.

the bjp strategyThe BJP strategy in these state elections is in sharp contrast to the one in the recent Lok Sabha polls. It had then consciously stitched together a rainbow coalition with regional parties but now has decided to go solo

banking on the popularity of Modi. Although, the BJP’s game plan may have changed, but its style of campaigning remains relentless and all-encompassing. The message from its army of young volunteers is that votes must be cast not for local candidates but directly for Modi, who is using his renowned oratorical skills in a breathless 10-day campaign cameo. The party’s attention to detail has reached such a scale that it has appointed ‘page pramukhs’-workers directly responsible for voters listed on a single page of the electoral roll. Modi revels in a challenge. He has put his reputation on the line yet again.He has shown the modi-magic.

WILL THE MODI-FICATION HAPPEN?

STATE ELECTIONS H AV E A R R I V E DNotification issued for Oct 15 assembly election

The process for the October 15 election to the 288-member Maharashtra

assembly began on Saturday with authorities issuing the poll notification. The bypoll for the parliamentary seat of Beed, v a c a t e d f o l l o w i n g the death of BJP leader G o p i n a t h Munde, will also be held on October 15.

“From today, the election process has begun with filing of nominations,” a electoral office official said. Maharashtra’s over 8.28 crore voters are eligible to

exercise their franchise in the single phase to elect its 13th assembly.

There are 29 and 25 seats reserved for SC and ST candidates respectively. EVMs

will be used in all the assembly constituencies. All will have a none of the above (NOTA) option button. EVMs in 13 assembly cons t i tuencies

in Maharashtra will also be equipped with voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT). VVPAT is a system where voters will get to verify if their votes have casted correctly.

press trust of india

THE VICTORIES A look results of the past 25 years

1990 1995 1999 2004 2009

Wins INC BJP Sena

BJP Sena INC NCP-

INC

Frankly, opinion polls conducted in India have never yielded accurate

results. On occasion, the overall outcome sort of tallied with the assessment of opinion pollsters, and we were impressed. In a multi-party system with infinite variables (in which other half-decent democracy would the price of onions emerge as a key factor during elections?) moulding voter opinion, it could not be otherwise.

It would be silly to write off opinion polls as mere speculation. Nor does the argument that small samples, comprising less than a minute fraction of voters, cannot provide a reliable clue to overall trends hold good. If anything, opinion polls do indicate the mood of the voter, and if analysed properly, broad projections can be made with a degree of certitude.

kanchan gupta The second question may seem superfluous because the winner gets to form the government; after all, that’s what elections are about, isn’t it? Not quite. If the results are not decisive, in the sense that no party gets a clear majority of seats, then though the winner is the party with the largest number of seats, it may not get to form the government.

In a latest incident at the Delhi Assembly elections the Bhartiya Janta Party got the highest number of seats, but it could not form the government. There are numerous absurdities that have resulted from a flawed electoral system that often fails to provide a clear verdict. For instance, Madhu Koda had neither party nor group in the Assembly, yet he became Chief Minister of Jharkhand. What happened subsequently does not merit repetition.

OCTOBER 15 REMEMBER TOCAST YOUR VOTE

Caricatures of certain Indian politicians presenting the hypocrisy in the Indian government

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Printed, Edited and Publised by Nikita Noronha and Sahil Singh, Journalism Batch 2014-15Xavier Institute of Communications, Mahapallika Marg, Mumbai 400001 Website: www.xaviercomm.org