Remarkable!!!

Just one number says it all. Marandi of the BJP won his seat by a total of 9 votes (as did Ramakrishna of Congress). And life went on as usual.

There are substantial flaws in the way the electoral game is played. A pure first-past-the-post system is difficult  to justify (as opposed to proportional representation). Then there is the problem of participating criminals and dynasts and also thorny campaign finance issues that may not improve over time. That said the Election Commission possibly has the most challenging job faced by any bureaucracy in the world and does it remarkably well.  

The real heroes are the aam aurat and aadmi, while the politicians co-operate for the most part (even petite Hitlers like Mamata Banerjee has to bow before the dictates of the commission- a good learning experience if any).

The "Gandhians with guns" will continue to terrorize their own people and inflict self-harm in the interest of ideology. But they do not realize that presently in the West, the right to self-determination in Palestine and elsewhere is viewed with apathy at best and suspicion at worst. With the dust settling down in Crimea (and East Ukraine) it is clear that the principle of big countries having a "zone of influence" is now accepted by the West. If nothing changes, Kashmir will be reduced to Afghanistan like state in a few decades.

.....

.....

.....

.....

......

.....
regards