Across the Aisle: Will constitutional values survive elections?

The results of the elections will be conclusive for the people of the five states but will be inconclusive for the rest of the country.

state assembly polls, state assembly elections, P Chidambaram column, State election results, Indian express columns — The results of the elections will be important for the country and for the two major parties, the BJP and the Congress.

You will read this column two days after the last of the five states have voted (December 7) and two days before counting (December 11). I can, therefore, afford to be less circumspect!

The five states that went to polls are not exactly representative of the whole country. Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan are among the poorer states of India, culturally rich, socially conservative/regressive, educationally backward and economically on the lower rungs of the ladder. Mizoram is high on human development but resource-poor and hence a relatively poor state. Telangana is a state that can be whatever it wants to be but it still looks like a start-up and not a grown-up.

The results of the elections will be conclusive for the people of the five states but will be inconclusive for the rest of the country. Unless Mizoram and Chhattisgarh produce ‘hung’ Assemblies, it is possible that in all the five states a government with a clear majority will be formed. That will signal to the world that despite attempts to erode institutions and liberty, democracy is thriving in India, though slightly bruised.