Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Mixed outcome

The performance in three of the five Assembly elections helps the Congress — troubled by successive poll defeats — to heave a sigh of relief. However, what it needs to avoid at this juncture is complacency as these poll results are not indicative of the general trend for the coming Lok Sabha elections. The Congress must continue with its aam aadmi agenda to consolidate the gains made under its flagship programmes to seek a renewed mandate. While the BJP’s thumping success in Madhya Pradesh can overwhelmingly be attributed to Shivraj Singh Chauhan’s sagacious leadership, its fiasco in Delhi belies the claim that a majority of urban voters are more inclined to the vote for the BJP.

The vote share also points to the BSP juggernaut going well beyond its traditional boundaries through its popular social engineering plank.

B. Jayanna Krupakar,

Surathkal

From the mixed verdict of the just-held Assembly elections, widely seen a semi-final before the 15th general election, no real conclusion can be drawn. Though terrorism was on top of the BJP’s campaign agenda, the result shows that the people have voted largely on the basis of longstanding livelihood concerns and local issues. Interestingly anti-incumbency has not proved to be a decisive factor.

Rajnish Raj Yadav,

Adampur

The voters seem to have taught the BJP a good lesson. It should avoid gimmicks and divisive politics and concentrate on the burning issues facing the country. Clearly, the people have voted for good governance and development. This is a big boost to the ruling party for the 2009 general elections.

U.T.R. Sridhar Prasad,

Secunderabad Your editorial, “Mixed results from five States (Dec. 9)” made an objective analysis of the results. The BJP has reasons to feel disappointed as the results have put paid to its plans to use them as the launching pad for the general elections. Its plan to exploit terrorism as a major poll plank came a cropper and it is time the party thought of livelihood issues. Despite the hat-trick win in Delhi, the relatively big loss in Madhya Pradesh and the narrow loss in Chhattisgarh are matters of serious introspection for the Congress.

J. Anantha Padmanabhan,

Srirangam

Sahana Rayan,

Chennai

S. Nallasivan,

Tirunelveli

The discerning electorate has rejected the exploitation of emotive issues for partisan ends. The verdict will definitely make the main political parties sit up and redraw their strategies. They can ill-afford to take the people for granted.

Satwant Kaur,

Mahilpur

The increased turnout shows that people are now taking more interest in democratic processes. Our politicians must channel their energy towards development works.

Kapil Kumar Singh,

New Delhi

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