When Mahabharata war took 18 days, the general election 2019 that decides the future caretaker of India will take one and a half month.
This is a bad fate of not only the country but the people of the country.
The Election Commission which took barely two weeks to conduct election decently in two or three phases are now taking a number of weeks to do so.
Though the justification for this long duration is, to ensure free and fair election, taking more than one and a half month and seven phases to complete the entire poll process is something that belies logic. That too, given the fact that all modern equipment and infrastructure are at the disposal of the election commission.

It is for the people to decide whether the competency or incompetency is the reason behind this demand for more time.
According to the election schedule, the polling in 15 states including Kerala will be completed in one day.
On account of security issues, voting will be extended over seven phases in UP, Bihar and Bengal.

Though J-K, which is under presidential rule, no decision is taken on Assembly polls, voting for Lok Sabha election will be held in six Lok Sabha constituencies along with polling in other places.
What makes people sick is the fact that nothing will happen in states, apart from the routine official activities since the model code of conduct came into existence on Sunday following the declaration of LS election, 2019.
This is the time when bureaucracy will take out the delaying tactics even in the case of genuine needs of the people under the pretext of model code of conduct.

Kerala will go to polls on April 23. Like last year, this time also people will have to wait for a month for results. This wait is unbearable not only for candidates and political parties but also for people.
It could not have been that difficult to schedule the election dates and declaration of result in a more logical and scientific manner. But the action of Election commission with an experience of 70 years in conducting election is really surprising.
In the first general election when there was 17 cr voters, in this 17th Lok Sabha election, the number of voters is 90 crore. Out of this about 8.5 cr are new voters.
Though the political equation has changed in Kerala, compared with the one last time, the main fight will be between the LDF and UDF, this time too.

Though many of the suggestions put forward by experts for reforming the electoral process didn’t get acceptance, the condition that each candidate should inform the voters about their character is very much acceptable, thanks to the Supreme Court order in this regard.

The fact that persons with criminal background are in the Parliament is not a secret and unfortunately no party is for banning such persons. But such candidates can’t hide the humiliation of having to expose their criminal background in front of the people.

In recent times, though voting machines were widely criticised, in this election also they will be pressed into service.
The government and people came to know about the power of the Election Commission only when T N Seshan became the chief election commissioner.

What pro-democrats wish is to see the election getting completed in a peaceful atmosphere. And, it is the responsibility of the political parties to ensure this.
The days to come are those of experiments and this is not only for political parties but also for the people.