National issues influence Indian voters

New Delhi: The ongoing Lok Sabha elections, which conclude with polling in the last of the five-phased elections on Wednesday, may not have been bereft of national issues as was thought initially.

It was by and large expected that regional issues would dominate electioneering. If Tamil Nadu is expected to vote on the issue of ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka, the issue of whether a Sikh prime minister should continue is to dominate elections for the remaining nine seats in Punjab.

Similar trends have been in view as it was the Left misrule in West Bengal, good governance in Bihar, vote for development in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and the like that dominated the scene in various states.

However, political parties now admit that several issues did become central, which may have influenced the pattern of voting in various pockets of the country.

The arrest of young leader Varun Gandhi under the National Security Act following his inflammatory speech against the minority Muslim community became an issue that spread outside Uttar Pradesh as well.

However, it had limited impact and ceased to be an issue once Varun was released on bail.

One of the most central issues to emerge in the midst of elections was black money worth hundreds of billions of rupees stacked in Swiss banks. The principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party went to voters saying the government had all the details but lacked the will to get the money back to the country.

It did manage to push the Congress party on the back foot and vanished only after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi categorically promised to work on it after elections get over.

The ghost of Bofors to haunt the Congress once again with news that the Central Bureau of Investigation, under pressure from the party, had withdrawn the red corner notice against controversial Italian businessman Octtavio Quattrrocchi, supposed to be close to the Gandhi family. Congress had lost power due to Bofors in 1989 and the party is not sure what damage it may have caused to it.

The Supreme Court's recent decision that the trial of 10 of the crucial post-Godhra train carnage riot cases will not be transferred out of Gujarat also gave the Congress, which was on the back foot on Swiss bank and Bofors issues, a chance to attack the BJP.

However, above all these, what many feel may have worked behind the scenes in damaging the Congress is the continued rise in prices of essential commodities such as sugar, cooking oil and vegetables.

The Congress claimed that it had managed to tame inflation, which was in double digits last year. But rising prices may yet haunt the party.

The impact of these issues will be known only on Saturday when results are declared.

How do you think the campaign was so far? When was the last time you voted? What are the criteria you look for in a candidate for a country like India? How do you expect the new government to take the nation forward?