Kaun Banayega Pradhanmantri

Two days ago, I was watching Star News. Its election special programme "Kaun Banega Pradhanmantri" aired its opinion poll.

According to their assumption, the UPA (sans Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party, which they termed as "Chautha Morcha" or the Fourth Front) is likely to get 203 seats. NDA was coming close to 191. Third Front (including the Left and a host of parties plus Bahujan Samaj Party) was likely to get a mere 104 which is way to less than their claim of forming the government. And the Fourth Front could get 39. Others and independents were likely to get 5 seats.

Since, according to this survey by Star News and Nielsen, no alliance was getting close to the halfway mark, the golden figure of 272, on their own.

These are the exactly figures from the survey :

United Progressice Alliance (UPA) - 203 seats
Indian National Congress- 155
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham- 15
Trinamool Congress- 13
Nationalist Congress Party- 11
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha- 2
National Conference- 2
Muslim League- 2
All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen- 1
Kerala Congress (Mani)- 1
Republican Party of India (Athavale)- 1

National Democratic Alliance - 191 seats
Bharatiya Janata Party- 147
Janata Dal (United)- 22
Shiv Sena- 9
Shiromani Akali Dal- 5
Asom Gana Parishad- 4
Rashtriya Lok Dal- 3
Indian National Lok Dal-1

Third Front - 104 seats
Bahujan Samaj Party- 26
Communist Party of India (Marxist)- 25
Telugu Desam Party-13
Biju Janata Dal-9
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham-9
Communist Party of India- 4
Pattali Makkal Katchi- 4
Forward Bloc- 3
Revolutionary Socialist Party - 3
Telangana Rashtra Samiti- 3
Janata Dal (Secular)- 2
Kerala Congress- 1
Assam United Democratic Front- 1
Haryana Janhit Congress- 1

Fourth Front - 39 seats
Samajwadi Party- 28
Rashtriya Janata Dal- 6
Lok Janshakti Party- 4
Praja Rajyam-1

Others: 5 seats

Total number of seats: 543

So, this survey indicates that no pre-poll alliance is getting a comfortable majority, the million dollar question which arises is not that "Kaun Banega Pradhanmantri" but it should actually be "Kaun Banayega Pradhanmantri".

No doubt, with these figures, there is going to be a lot of 'change of hearts' amongst the so-called representatives of the people. There will be horse-trading and stuffs like that. Some will be lured by cash, some by offers of ministerial berths, some by dropping cases against them and the likes.

With this kind of thing happening everytime with every election in India, I think there is a strong need of a revamp in the political system. Why can't we have a two-party system (or three-party system) here in India. I know this is not that easy. But it would at least be much better than seeing this horse-trading and 'change of hearts'. This would reduce corruption at the highest level to a larger extent.

We should have a law that if an elected representative wants to change his party, he/she must resign from his post, join another party for at least a year before he/she can seek reappointment. What actually happens is that if a representative from party 'X' is elected. He remains on the post for some years. Then there's some tussle. He is denied ticket for next election. People from party 'Y' get in touch with him. And suddenly he realises that his beliefs are now changed. He joins party 'Y' and gets a ticket from that very party. Its the same party which he condemned just a few days ago. So there should be at least one year of 'cooling-off' period for these 'dal-badlus' (frequent party changers).

These were just the thoughts that popped up in my mind. And I thought why not share it on the blog. I'd like to hear views of the readers. Comments on these suggestions of mine are most welcome.

Opinion Poll Source : Star News-Nielsen Opinion Poll