Elections in India: Mayawati’s Evil Plan

Summary: National elections, held in phases across India, occurred in Lucknow yesterday. Crazy Mayawati (Chief Minister of UP) and her BSP party devised an evil plan to keep the educated, urban Lucknowites away from the polls, resulting in a dismal 34% voter turnout.

I’m lucky enough to witness two very different national elections occur first-hand in a period of six months. Politics in India is nothing like politics in the U.S., partly because of the drastic difference of scale, and partly because of different foundations that have been laid.

There are two major national parties in India – Congress and BJP. However, neither is powerful enough to win majority votes / seats in the election, and as a result must form alliances with other parties to reach the majority. Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Mayawati and her regional BSP party, being in the largest state in India, is in a strong position to strike an alliance with one of the key parties. For her to agree to an alliance, however, she has but one demand: That she or another party member be given the position as Prime Minister.

I’ve been here less than three months and even know that’s a scary thought. Though she is of the dalits, the “untouchables” caste, she has defied all expectation and risen through the ranks to rule India’s most populous state. As Chief Minister of UP, however, she has, in reality, squandered the people’s money and made outrageous promises. She is erecting stone monuments across Lucknow, in some cases destroying historical monuments to rebuild her own. She has promised slum dwellers that they own the land they dwell upon, which has resulted in an expansion of slums around the state. She claims to stand behind the interest of dalits, but in reality, she cares about no one but herself.

Her latest ploy surrounds Lucknow’s recent elections. (India is so large that elections have to be held in phases; Lucknow’s elections were held on April 30, when the entire city seemingly shut down. No public transportation was available, as in the past, parties had manipulated the use of autorickshaws to increase their voting base.) At the last minute, the District Magistrate overseeing Lucknow mysteriously mandated that schools be shut down on Tuesday and Wednesday (preceding the Thursday elections), citing “heat and the elections.”

Why?, one might ask. Let’s evaluate the week. Monday was already a state holiday, Thursday was election day, and Friday is May Day. With the addition of Tuesday and Wednesday as holidays, students (and parents) essentially had a full week off, which encourages them to take a short trip and skip the voting altogether. With educated urbanites away from the polls, Mayawati and her party were sure to win critical seats necessary to fulfill her evil mastermind plan to take over position as Prime Minister.

And, succeed she did, as voter turnout in Lucknow was a mere 34%, a new low. I think my faith in India may simultaneously be reaching new lows.