Indian polls

A booming economy, a good harvest due to monsoon and improved bilateral relationship with nuclear rival Pakistan could not offset the agony of millions of poor. They voted out the BJP. The Congress, virtually written off by the political pundits, did well even beyond their expectations.

The most important part of these is the respect to people's verdict shown by the BJP. The astute politician, Vajpayee, acknowledged defeat and submitted resignation to the president even before the vote counting ended.

In our country, no election has been spared the blame of rigging by the defeated party. We have learnt new terms like 'shukkho karchupi' ( subtle rigging) and 'sthuholo karchupi' (gross rigging). Our main two political parties give the impression that the common people are bound to support them and there will never be a sway in their opinion.

I cannot even imagine the fallout of the election results, had it taken place in Bangladesh. Electronic voting machine is being used in the Indian polls for the first time and the results went against the political pundits' anticipation. We might have heard the term 'electronic rigging' if the election was held in Bangladesh.

We hope our politicians will undergo the hard work of taking some time out of their busy schedule of attacking opponents and take a look at the Indian election results and Vajpayee's dignified exit.