Leftist Le Pen!

Every time there is a presidential election in France, the Alliance Française de Madras gears up to enable a few hundred French nationals in Chennai to cast their votes. It is not as far-fetched as you might think; there are quite a few joint-ventures with French firms based in Chennai (Think Saint-Gobain, Michelin, Areva, Alstom, Faurecia...). Pondicherry, with many more French citizens, had to put up two polling booths. Chennai needed only one, and last April, the AFdM became a polling booth. 

There were pictures of the candidates displayed at the AFdM; it must have been done before election day, I assume. This picture was taken on April 10, the day of the first round of elections last year. And all these pictures were stacked up beside the stairs leading up to the cafe / auditorium, not a location where it would easily catch your eye. 

And the way the candidates are ordered. Surprised, aren't you? Marine Le Pen is not the first leftist name you can think of and I daresay you know that Fabien Roussel is hardly ever on the right. But here they are, on their own opposite sides, in faraway Chennai!

 

Orange boom

Yes, there is an orange tinge around most of the country. Election results didn't seem to have caused any celebrations in Chennai. The city has largely been a DMK stronghold, but this time around, that party is in a complete daze; they have been wiped out, without a single seat anywhere in the state.

And yes, the one constituency where state parties did not come in 1st or 2nd saw the BJP winning. So yes, there is a touch of saffron here as well!

A new option

Until the previous elections in Tamil Nadu, a voter could express her displeasure at the available candidates by stamping on multiple names in the ballot paper. There was also another option, under Section 49-O of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, for a voter to shun the ballot altogether, and record his decision in a separate form. Very few people actually knew about Section 49-O, and almost none of those would call for a form to record their dissent. Why should they, when they could have fun stamping across multiple names?

With electronic voting machines (EVM) replacing ballot papers, that fun was curtailed. The EVM would accept only one press of the button - and that, with a beep. Dissent wasn't possible through the EVM, and asking for the form clearly violated the principle of a secret ballot. The Supreme Court of India agreed with that contention and accepted the Election Commission's request to include "None of the Above" as a standard option on all the EVMs. 

And so there it was: the one candidate who is contesting across all constituencies in the country this year. NOTA. Would this candidate win anywhere? Well, even if there is a majority opting for NOTA, it is the top-grossing human who would still go on to win!

Selfinkie!

The election juggernaut came over to Chennai today. And here is the mandatory photo to show off that I have voted. With my voter ID card, too boot. 

Not a selfie, but a selfinkie!

Flags of a colour

The general elections rise in the east, tomorrow, with Assam and Tripura starting off their voting process. They come to Tamil Nadu on the 24th; which means that for the next couple of weeks, the noise and the colour will keep rising, until it all falls silent on April 22. 

Chennai has 3 seats in the Lok Sabha - North, Central and South, with the last one being  the largest in terms of number of voters. The last day for candidates to file their nominations was yesterday and they have until Wednesday to change their minds. In the recent years, the Election Commission of India has put in place several conditions that have served to make the campaigning more sterile, even if that was not the intent.

Such a display of flags and buntings is therefore not very common. And as I look through the picture, I find that I am not able to recognize two of the three flags there - what is the "DMP"? The closest equivalent I could find was the All Kerala MGR Dravida Munnetra Party - but what could it be doing in Chennai, and with a picture of Dr. Ambedkar at that? And what is that blue-white-red flag with a chakra in the centre? Would people actually be able to figure out all of the who-is-who (and, because of all those poll alliances, who-is-whose) in the next fortnight? Tough choices ahead!