No Anna effect: Cong, NCP sweep Maha civic polls

[Tiger80]

Mumbai: It is a big sweep for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress in the Maharashtra civic polls with the parties winning as many as 80 local bodies. The opposition parties, Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to bag just 14 civic bodies. The results suggest that anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and his campaign failed to have any affect on the elections. The result is also interesting as the NCP and the Congress were not in an alliance in many regions. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/no-anna-effect-cong-ncp-sweep-maha-civic-polls/211288-37-64.html

:facepalm: if Anna cannot influence voters in his own state then how he is claiming that people are supporting him

[bihutoli]

I guess the people of Maharashtra are disillusioned by the autocratic practises of team Anna and have decided to restore their faith in the democratic value and integrity of proven political parties like the NCP and the congress. Its a tight slap on the face of team Anna. Long live Indian democracy and the voting populace.

[achilles]

Gotta love the way IBN puts things - totally netural in its affection for the ruling party.

[Stuge]

Dude,its because people have no other choice .

[urbestfriend]

Since when corruption is an in issue civic polls? Civic polls is mostly about local issues and hence nothing to do with Anna. As usual CNN-IBN is doing its bit for anti-anti-corruption movement

[ViruRulez]

To be honest, it is about alternative in most situations. Whom will they vote for? If they vote for Shiv Sena-BJP or MNS then Northie Marathi fights will start in Mumbai and the peace will vanish. Not that the alternatives are any less corrupt either. So, they are without any choice. To be honest, Congress will win by default in many Indian states and their position is instead becoming stronger with time due to weakening of the oppositions. In fact, I can almost say that Congress would still win the majority even in national elections if held today irrespective of all the scams. Reason again is the same. Lack of alternatives. People know that BJP and Left parties are also b!tching and doing nothing else. Indian politics have only become dirtier with time and every party is taking their own interests above national interests. Sad but true story of our present democracy. And the masses are not becoming any wise either. Most Indians as a whole are becoming hypocrites and irrationals. I see more fighting and indiscipline in the country once again and regionalism, religion, caste, language etc. are some petty things that people are fighting on again. The number of internet warriors on all popular websites is a vivid example of the same. Sorry but the country is becoming ***ed up gradually and unless Indians try to follow Indianism "from the bottom of their heart" and work for the nation instead of petty interests I don't see things changing a lot in the coming years. In fact, it might become worse with time.

[Sachin=GOD]

I guess the people of Maharashtra are disillusioned by the autocratic practises of team Anna and have decided to restore their faith in the democratic value and integrity of proven political parties like the NCP and the congress. Its a tight slap on the face of team Anna. Long live Indian democracy and the voting populace.

this.

[someone]

Well, it was these people who still voted for Congress after 26/11, so definately this result is not at all surprising. Excellent PR by congress and pity how people seem to believe the media.

[bihutoli]

this.

lol. I was kiddin'. The only thing to be read in these results is that trying to effect changes through voting is literally not possible in India, in the absence of credible options, and an indifferent population. Even if the congress dumps the lokpal bill and reinstates Raja as the telecom minister, they may still come back into power in the next elections given the way we as a population are fragmented in our voting preferences, and the nature of coalition politics. This civic election results is just a reaffirmation of this. That is why diluting the constitutional power given to the legislative is the only hope we have to reduce the amount of hurt our politicians are dharm bound to repeatedly cause us.

[Sachin=GOD]

^:facepalm:

[ViruRulez]

lol. I was kiddin'. The only thing to be read in these results is that trying to effect changes through voting is literally not possible in India, in the absence of credible options, and an indifferent population. Even if the congress dumps the lokpal bill and reinstates Raja as the telecom minister, they may still come back into power in the next elections given the way we as a population are fragmented in our voting preferences, and the nature of coalition politics. This civic election results is just a reaffirmation of this. That is why diluting the constitutional power given to the legislative is the only hope we have to reduce the amount of hurt our politicians are dharm bound to repeatedly cause us.

:WTF: That will be the worst scenario. In such a scenario, if a dictator gets a chance to rule to country then we won't have the basic freedom we have now. Dictatorship can never be an ideal form of govt. It might work out once or twice at the start if there is a benevolent dictator but a tyrant will become a dictator sooner or later and history would repeat again. In the past, even one crazy king in a whole dynasty used to screw up everything and the same would happen again. I have thought about such a system in the past but it has a lot bigger flaws compared to even an indisciplined democracy like ours. Power must still be in the hands of the people for the long terms safety of the nation. As Winston Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried BTW we are not the best examples of democracy at present and most other democracies are working out better than us. Instead of removing democracy, if we remove the hypocrisy, petty politics and divisions in Indian society we can do a lot better. Politicians are a pile of sh!t but Indian masses are not becoming the most wise either. As I mentioned earlier, Indians need to think above region, religion, caste, language etc. and think of only national interests only in order to fix the system. Parties play dirty politics as they know they have their votebanks due to these divisions. Stop feeding the political trolls by ending votebanks instead and uniting as one.

[Tiger80]

In the past, even one crazy king in a whole dynasty used to screw up everything and the same would happen again

:haha: Any crazy person from great Gandhi dynasty can still do this

[bihutoli]

:WTF: That will be the worst scenario. In such a scenario, if a dictator gets a chance to rule to country then we won't have the basic freedom we have now. Dictatorship can never be an ideal form of govt. It might work out once or twice at the start if there is a benevolent dictator but a tyrant will become a dictator sooner or later and history would repeat again. In the past, even one crazy king in a whole dynasty used to screw up everything and the same would happen again. I have thought about such a system in the past but it has a lot bigger flaws compared to even an indisciplined democracy like ours. Power must still be in the hands of the people for the long terms safety of the nation. As Winston Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried BTW we are not the best examples of democracy at present and most other democracies are working out better than us. Instead of removing democracy, if we remove the hypocrisy, petty politics and divisions in Indian society we can do a lot better. Politicians are a pile of sh!t but Indian masses are not becoming the most wise either. As I mentioned earlier, Indians need to think above region, religion, caste, language etc. and think of only national interests only in order to fix the system. Parties play dirty politics as they know they have their votebanks due to these divisions. Stop feeding the political trolls by ending votebanks instead and uniting as one.

Dictatorship???? How on earth did you decipher that from my post? What I am saying is to make the judiciary and the executive a little stronger and the legislative a little weaker than it currently is constitutionally.

[ViruRulez]

Dictatorship???? How on earth did you decipher that from my post? What I am saying is to make the judiciary and the executive a little stronger and the legislative a little weaker than it currently is constitutionally.

You did not mention the empowerment of executive and judiciary and so, I thought that you were referring to dicatatorship. Sorry for that. But the judiciary anyways takes 20-30 years to solve cases. How would it help in making them more powerful. If there was a strong president such as Kalam it might have made sense to increase the power of the president instead. But then this time round we have a completely puppet president in Pratibha Patil and such a president can only do more harm than good. And her election also displayed the vast regionalism etc. as an opposition party such as Shiv Sena voted for her as she is Marathi. Just to give an idea of how everything is ***ed up. There is no golden key to fix the nation quickly. As I mentioned, the people need to rise above their regional, religion, caste, language or other interests and start thinking about the national interests. Till they give the political parties votebanks to feed the trolls will definitely feed on them. I am more worried about the way educated India is becoming more and more divided and starting to think about petty interests nowadays. To be honest, you will see more illiterates and villagers speaking sanely compared to middle class youth who have started to lose their senses. FFS everybody needs to understand they are Indian first before anything else.

[Sachin=GOD]

You did not mention the empowerment of executive and judiciary and so, I thought that you were referring to dicatatorship. Sorry for that. But the judiciary anyways takes 20-30 years to solve cases. How would it help in making them more powerful. If there was a strong president such as Kalam it might have made sense to increase the power of the president instead. But then this time round we have a completely puppet president in Pratibha Patil and such a president can only do more harm than good. And her election also displayed the vast regionalism etc. as an opposition party such as Shiv Sena voted for her as she is Marathi. Just to give an idea of how everything is ***ed up. There is no golden key to fix the nation quickly. As I mentioned, the people need to rise above their regional, religion, caste, language or other interests and start thinking about the national interests. Till they give the political parties votebanks to feed the trolls will definitely feed on them. I am more worried about the way educated India is becoming more and more divided and starting to think about petty interests nowadays. To be honest, you will see more illiterates and villagers speaking sanely compared to middle class youth who have started to lose their senses. FFS everybody needs to understand they are Indian first before anything else.

Team Anna certainly is NOT the solution to any of our problems and sooner the people realize this, the better it will be for India. Whether people like it or not, this country is going to be run by Politicians so the only solution is better politicians and this can happen through some electoral reforms which keep criminals away from power and reduces money power in politics and helps candidates to be selected on merit.

[bihutoli]

You did not mention the empowerment of executive and judiciary and so, I thought that you were referring to dicatatorship. Sorry for that. But the judiciary anyways takes 20-30 years to solve cases. How would it help in making them more powerful. If there was a strong president such as Kalam it might have made sense to increase the power of the president instead. But then this time round we have a completely puppet president in Pratibha Patil and such a president can only do more harm than good. And her election also displayed the vast regionalism etc. as an opposition party such as Shiv Sena voted for her as she is Marathi. Just to give an idea of how everything is ***ed up. There is no golden key to fix the nation quickly. As I mentioned, the people need to rise above their regional, religion, caste, language or other interests and start thinking about the national interests. Till they give the political parties votebanks to feed the trolls will definitely feed on them. I am more worried about the way educated India is becoming more and more divided and starting to think about petty interests nowadays. To be honest, you will see more illiterates and villagers speaking sanely compared to middle class youth who have started to lose their senses. FFS everybody needs to understand they are Indian first before anything else.

I agree with you on the fact that people are driven by petty interests while voting, but do not share your or others' optimism that this will change. That is why we need to make our elected representatives accountable some way. Clearly elections once every five years is definitely not acting as the check that will keep the politicians in line. We need institutions that monitors and redresses on a more real time basis.

[surajmal]

I agree with you on the fact that people are driven by petty interests while voting' date=' but do not share your or others' optimism that this will change. That is why we need to make our elected representatives accountable some way. Clearly elections once every five years is definitely not acting as the check that will keep the politicians in line.[b'] We need institutions that monitors and redresses on a more real time basis.

:facepalm: that is what lokpal is for.

[ViruRulez]

Team Anna certainly is NOT the solution to any of our problems and sooner the people realize this, the better it will be for India. Whether people like it or not, this country is going to be run by Politicians so the only solution is better politicians and this can happen through some electoral reforms which keep criminals away from power and reduces money power in politics and helps candidates to be selected on merit.

Cannot disagree. I am not against Jan Lokpal but some of the points are very good indeed but only time will tell if it actually gets implemented and will it give the desired results. I will still keep my fingers crossed a bit though there have been contradicting statements from Team Anna at times. So, will need to check how it pans out. I am against some points such as execution of corrupt people etc. as I am not sure it will work out either. A middle ground perhaps would be the better option with more points inclined towards the Team Anna one.

I agree with you on the fact that people are driven by petty interests while voting' date=' but do not share your or others' optimism that this will change. T[b']hat is why we need to make our elected representatives accountable some way. Clearly elections once every five years is definitely not acting as the check that will keep the politicians in line. We need institutions that monitors and redresses on a more real time basis.

The problem is that if the people who have the power to choose are not accountable then how do you expect the politicians to be accountable. Have you ever heard of a robber taking accountability of the robbery infront of the people from whom they have robbed. They won't. As simple as that. They have the power and they have a whole country of brainless citizens who are more interested in their petty divisions than the nation. The constitution has given the politicians the right to amend any part of it. And the are not fools to screw up their own ****. So, irrespective of either we want or not, the sh!t will continue from the look of it. I used to be quite pissed off a few years back but now I have realized that this sh!t would not stop. Seen enough of this sh!t to realize that this will be a never ending process and so, I instead concentrate on my own work nowadays.

[bihutoli]

:facepalm: that is what lokpal is for.

I kindof hope it would be. That's why I support it. Edit: I hope it would be one of the many benefits out of the Lokpal. However primarily it seeks to try and address the problem of graft, and I think that is one of the single largest issues affecting the country today.

[Sachin=GOD]

Harsh winter forces shift of fast venue to Mumbai Delhi's harsh winter has necessitated shifting of Anna Hazare's fast venue to Mumbai and the move has triggered talk of the social activist giving the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) the chills ahead of the Mumbai municipal polls. The buzz has an edge because Hazare's anti-corruption movement perceived to have an anti-Congress, anti-NCP tilt failed to impact the civic polls in Maharashtra. Both parties fared well in the polls. Now, Hazare's fast, scheduled to begin on December 27 at the historic Azad Maidan, is being keenly watched for its possible impact on the politically crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls in February. If Hazare's followers are to be believed, he will appeal to people to vote against the Congress and the NCP in the 10 municipal corporation polls. His proposed 30-day agitation, as a part of the jan lokpal movement, will overlap with the campaigning for the these polls. India Against Corruption (IAC) confirmed shifting of Hazare's fast venue. But Mayank Gandhi, IAC state coordinator, said the organisation would give an anti-Congress call for the BMC polls only if the party did not pass a strong lokpal bill in the ongoing session of Parliament. Congress, however, is not unduly worried. Party spokesperson Sanjay Dutt said results of the first phase of the recent civic polls in the state had proved voters supported the Congress and NCP. Hindustan Times