Verdict 2008

When the voter returns chief ministers to power in three out of five states, she is making a political statement new to our politics.

When the voter returns chief ministers to power in three out of five states, she is making a political statement new to our politics. Voters in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi have returned incumbent governments to power, the BJP in the first two and the Congress in Delhi. In Rajasthan and Mizoram, they have endorsed the Congress over incumbents. In each state, the mandate is clear. These assembly elections are significant for more than their proximity to the forthcoming general elections. They came at a time when grand national themes were being laid out to anticipate the voter8217;s choice. Inflation had been high for many months, the effects of the global financial crisis are being felt in daily transactions, and the Mumbai terror strikes followed a series of terrorist incidents across urban India. Would these national issues hurt the Congress, in government at the Centre and looking to take back the Hindi heartland? Then again, the BJP had held Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan for five years, and the Congress Delhi for ten. Would not anti-incumbency kick in to shuffle the pack?

The verdict this week is an

indictment of those who8217;d circumscribe the voter in these neat,

reflexive alternatives. The verdict resists these simple, and perhaps simplistic, narratives. And in conjunction with the almost record turnouts on polling days, it is a statement on how mindfully the voter casts the ballot. Does this mean that there is popular satisfaction all around in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh?

Certainly not, and there were

ample campaign stories to document that. But in each case, clearly the voter surveyed the alternatives to decide who would most ably, in relative terms, act upon an actionable agenda. By all evidence in these three states, the opposition8217;s campaign of negativism and

narrow contrarianism did not

inspire the voter8217;s confidence. In each state, the opposition was also perhaps too cacophonous to spell out an alternative agenda.

Integral to delivering on an

actionable agenda is a coherent leadership. The Congress, for

instance, suffered in Madhya Pradesh from the presence of so many aspirants 8212; and, arguably, so did the BJP in Rajasthan, where it appeared divided. This is not to argue that party candidates do not matter at all, but voters do not like to waste their votes. In election after assembly election, the 8220;others8221; list has been

rendered irrelevant in that one party or coalition has gained a functioning majority. These elections are no different. All anecdotal evidence once again points to the voters8217; confidence in a party with a decisive chief ministerial candidate 8212; or at least to their distrust of a party uncertain about its state-level leadership.