In a disinterested election, the polling percentage has been in the 40’s. What has motivated of much higher percentage of people to come and vote in this election?

Exceedingly high poll percentage has always a method. A larger number of people come to vote when something motivates them. In the present case, it is the desire for a change which has motivated the higher vote percentage. An exceedingly high vote percentage is bad news for the Congress. The news from Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh and Jammu appears to be that in many constituencies, the Congress has been pushed to a third position.

This may well be a situation in several constituencies of Odisha. The trends from UP are worse. The Congress and its allies have been pushed to the fourth position. Political parties which don’t have a strong social base and rely only on leadership charismas and traditional support, become exceedingly invulnerable in adversity.

The price rise, corruption and the non-inspirational leadership of the Congress has failed to inspire the people. The BJP campaign appears to have succeeded in both laying down the political agenda and also pushing Narendra Modi as the centre-stage personality of this election. Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi continue to have a marginal impact. The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh is non-factor in this election. For us in the BJP, high poll percentage is good news; the more the merrier.

(Author is leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha)

(Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this article are his own and do not reflect the views of Mediabharti.com- Editor)