An Election

Recently on a family lunch my parents, my brother and I got in a debate regarding the 2009 election. On how mud flinging and name calling had become the order of the day. I do not know about previous elections as I would have been a witness to only a handful out of which some I would have been to small to remember anything…...I personally feel this election is the worst name calling exercise ever...Including the two people running for the top post of the country`

During the course of the conversation I remembered another election in the year 2003 of a club in Mumbai…….Where members of the club were in the process of electing their committee……. What surprised me those days was the name calling and the fliers which would be distributed amongst members…… Recalling one such flier which I had the opportunity to get my hands on …. The flier had photographs and names of the current committee members with a small brief/description on them….. On reading I was shocked to read the description of few members…… The flier was claiming that one person had taken his pants off in the club. Another was a wife beater and one of the members was
raising a child which was not his own but a neighbors and a fellow member……

Election 2009 is nothing short of the 2003 club election I had witnesses….. The leader of opposition has claimed that the PM is a ‘Nikama PM’ …. We have had candidates calling other candidates pimps ……… Another leader promising to cut off arms of people of the minorities…….. In the club election my cousin and were given passes to a belly dance show basically a bribe for us to vote for a particular section of members…..So what is wrong in distributing money??? At least politicians are not inviting the people to watch obscene shows…..Or are they and we just do not know about it……….

My view is that there is no difference in way elections are conducted in our country whether it is at the micro level or the macro level….

Would love to know your thoughts….!!!!!!