Pages

Friday, June 22, 2007

President of India Election Drama [update]

[update] Dr Kalam seems to have given up. Probably NDA and others will be forced to support the UPA candidate. If I understand correctly the special qualifications for this candidate's nomination (and therefore for this person to be our next president) are:
1) She is a lady (and we should have some lady as President since we haven't had it till now :Congress' reason)
2) She is Maharastrian (Reason for Shiv Sena's support for her)
3) Shivraj Patil is not very competant for the post (Communist's complaint, well what is the meaning of competence here ?)
WOW, great work Indian politicians. Next time we should also consider the Caste, Race, minimum age of 55 years and some disabilities before we nominate ppl for such posts.

The presidents' election drama has become little more interesting after current president Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam agreed to reconsider standing for the post. The comments from Political leaders from UPA government not only shows their attitude towards what one would think of a post of great honour and responsibility.
The current presidential candidate, who is most likely to win just because of numbers supporting her is Pratibha Patil, A name most ppl would not have heard of and for which I had to do a Google search to know abt. Some interesting things described by wikipedia article on her.

Election to be held on 19 July 2007.[15]. She emerged as a compromise candidate after the Left parties would not agree to the nomination of present Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who is widely viewed as bordering on incompetence in this important post. At that point, Sonia Gandhi proposed Pratibha Patil's name.

This makes her most likely to become the first female President of India. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi described her nomination as a "historic occasion" in India'a 60th year of independence.

Seems like she got the nomination for lack of any better candidate and the fact that she will be the first female president of the contry. The article also describes her "innocent" remark about the Purdah system, I could only ROFL after reading that one. This can only be an indication on what great knowledge and thoughts this lady would have on more current things of concernt to the country like Software Technology, self reliance and other aspects on which Dr Kalam was praised throughout the world for his views.

Whats more interesting is the kind of remarks UPA leader have against the current President, who by all means is the best person to take up the post. Some of them say he should exit gracefully. Some like Laalu are suggesting him to Retire. What a shame to all this leaders.

The educated folks would clearly see what problems UPA has with a president who has in past returned some stupid bills (The president in India any way has small control on these bills) including the Office of Profit one. His views of advancing the country are certainly one most policians won't be able to digest much. Lets see what more get to witness on this Drama.

9 comments:

  1. Politicians suck !!
    The president of India election should be directly democratic, and not the way it is presently .. at least we have better candidates in presidential elections .. and it wont be a case of "lesser of the two evils" :) ..
    But then, democracy is not always the best option .. I have an idea .. May be Mr. Kalam should just dissolve the parliament, ask the forces (they report to him anyway) to siege the parliament and shoot all the idiots in there.
    India poised .. ? lets tilt in the favor of common-sense :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That sounds good, I am all for a military rule for some time. It can't be any bad than the current situation :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unfortunately, Kalam's too soft. He felt bad about the remarks made on him (by the union ministers)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anyone with any kind of integrity and decency would not tolerate the kind of comments made upon him, especially if he were the first citizen of the country. I think the best option for Dr. Kalam was to gracefully exit.

    Which again leads me to think, do we really need a toothless post as the highest office of the country?? If you call him the first citizen, he should atleast be given some powers so that our shameless politicians respect him, if not out if feeling, then out of fear atleast.

    ReplyDelete
  5. yeah....i totally agree...
    dunno what congress and left parties r upto!!
    i think congress are against him bcoz of returning bill of office of profit and left parties bcoz he advocated two-party system in the country.

    seriously, our prez is just a puppet in the hands of ruling side.
    his post/status and powers differ a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The UPA candidate is not that terrible after all. She has a good CV. The thing which sucks is she seems to be a yes-woman for Sonia-family.

    Let's stop being teenagers for a while, it is silly to ask for a military rule and for president to dissolve the parliament :)

    Kalaam was a great president, it will be hard for anyone to step into his shoes.

    ReplyDelete
  7. @ray lighting: Any UPA candidate now would surely be a yes-Sonia one now just like our former great finance minister is forced to be.

    I did see her CV and wasn't convinced its the best we have for such a post.
    What gives me little peace of mind is the thought that anyways President of India is just a honorary post of very little impact. I guess any one sound at giving speeches would work [:D]

    Yeah those opinions are of course not serious ones :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think whole election process is now farce. Unless edcated indian middleclass starts voting, we will have politicians who are corrupt to their very bones. Sometimes I wonder how can we remain interested in politics and in these politicians. I think whoever is the next president; he/she will be most unpopular figure and from now on president will be court jester and nothing else.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Excellent.In India election season has come yet again. Political parties are upto palying the tricks of caste, religion, greed and liquor . All indians to be wise and broad minded, its the country, society which is more important than once's personal,religious or caste interest. We must accept we have very very limited scope to vote for a good person, but thankfully still we have a chance to vote for some one good. We can not expect much of change in our political system or in our governance, but atleast we should give a try to change. Every politician appeals to the intellectuals and educated people and even challenges them to enter the politics, bring the changes and clean the dirt. alas end of the day, all parties fields criminals on their tickets, misery is people who are convicted are fielded, who are in Jails are also fileded. Wise people saves our country and our democracy. Casting our vote is to for the satisfaction that,atleast let us bring a change.
    Wisdom should work above sentimentalism and work earnestly without attachment. Should be be an authentic also. Communicate authenticity to voters by standing up for what you believe in and sharing with voters what it is that calls you to public service.Election Day is a turnout game, so make sure that you have a robust effort to get your supporters to the polls. Get-Out-the-Vote planning should begin on day one of your campaign. Work with reporters to earn media coverage to help communicate the message of your campaign to a broader audience. Even on a grassroots campaign, don't underestimate the importance of raising money. Start by generating a list of personal contacts and send a letter asking for their support. You won't get what you don't ask for. Ask directly for people's money, time, and, of course, their vote. Convert undecided voters into supporters, and supporters into active volunteers and leaders. Ignore the people you'll never convince!
    Generate repeated, direct, personal contacts with voters. The more personal the conversation, the more effective it is at persuading voters to support you. Repeat that message over and over and over again. When you are completely tired of repeating your message, voters are just beginning to hear it. Develop a compelling message that connects with voters and conveys the central argument of your campaign-why you are running, and why voters should choose you. Lay out your path to victory in a campaign plan that you refer to often. Your plan is not a plan unless it's written down! There is an important distinction between effectiveness and efficiency in managing an election.· Effectiveness is doing the right things.
    · Efficiency is doing things right.
    The general principles of effective management can be applied in every field, the differences being more in application than in principle. The Manager's functions can be summed up as:
    · Forming a vision
    · Planning the strategy to realize the vision.
    · Cultivating the art of leadership.
    · Establishing institutional excellence.
    · Building an innovative organization.
    · Developing human resources.
    · Building teams and teamwork.
    · Delegation, motivation, and communication.
    · Reviewing performance and taking corrective steps when called for.
    Thus, election management is a process of aligning people and getting them committed to work for a common goal to the maximum social benefit - in search of excellence.

    ReplyDelete