When there is no wave in favour of one party or the other, Lok Sabha election is like lottery. That’s because post-1977, multiple non-Congress parties have emerged holding aloft regional issues, at the expense of larger national parties.

One reason that led to mushrooming of regional parties was that we don’t have good devolution of administrative powers. These parties have tried to establish strong regional power centres.

What has undone this effort is that the new-found power has been used without responsibility. The local administrative bodies are incompetent and non-committal to the society’s welfare. Instead of focusing on development, local parties have flirted dangerously with extremist, radical and emotive issues.

The net result: in Lok Sabha elections like the one that just got over (where there is no clear wave), the electorate vote either keeping local issues or national issues in mind.

So we had plethora of issues like terrorism, US nuclear deal, price rise, communalism, power and water crises, lack of good roads, transport facilities etc. These are either local or national issues or a mixture of both.

So, it’s impossible to clearly say why the UPA retained power and that too with a bigger margin, why NDA campaign failed to deliver, why some candidates won, why some lost.

Indian general election is not one national election, but a sum total of 543 local elections. The composition of the Lok Sabha reflects this. We can at best say why individuals won or lost.

When we say issues like Modi leadershp, Varun speech, Singur row, Lanka issue, Karat’s betrayal, Rahul-Priyanka effect, Yeddiyurappa govt’s performance etc proved crucial, it’s true only in a local context.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

For the first time in recent Lok Sabha elections, national parties — Congress (around 200) and BJP (around 115) — have come out stronger. The parties next in line have around just 20-25.

After nearly two decades of experimentation, it looks like the Indian voter has realised it’s better to trust the national parties — be it local issue or national issue. We have seen how small parties have exploited fractured mandates to drive selfish bargains holding the nation to ransom.

Probably we are seeing the sidelining of smaller spoilsports and re-emergence of big players like the Congress and the BJP. I have my choice between the two, but I trust the two with nation’s future. Neither will do anything to harm India’s and Indians’ intersts. What we must be wary of are fringe, radical elements engaging in mischief evenwhile riding piggy on the big two parties.

The Congress and the BJP should strengthen their pan-Indian influence. In states where neither has any signifant presence, they should pick regional allies with caution, for what is at stake is their national image, so also the nation’s prosperity.