In the next two months, almost 814 million voters will make their way to polling booths across the length and breadth of the country to cast their votes in the largest democratic elections in the world. The general elections, in which voters will elect a total of 543 members to the lower house of Parliament, or Lok Sabha, will ultimately decide the fate of the nation. The upcoming elections, described by local analysts as historic, pits the rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the broadly centre-left Congress party, which has been in power for 10 years. The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate is Narendra Modi while the Congress campaign is led by Rahul Gandhi, the 43-year-old scion of India’s most famous political dynasty.

All the hype and buzz about the upcoming elections have whipped up enough interest all around the world and Indian Americans are equally keyed in to the updates. Only a few of them have a vote back home, but that does not stop them from being excited about the elections and hoping that the election brings forward a clean government and a corruption free India. Sensing their growing interest in the Indian elections, US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) has come up with a unique initiative which is running a series of weekly conference calls with noted analysts from India providing their expert opinion to the American callers. The discussion points during the calls touch upon subjects such as possible outcomes of the elections, impact on trade and investments in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, energy, aviation, IT, status of civil liability bill and possible shift in India’s foreign policy. The calls which began on March 22nd will continue till May 16th and India’s leading political analysts and experts will be offering their expert opinions with respect to the Indian elections. In the last two weeks, the featured experts were Dr. Jagdeep S Chhokar, the founder member of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-profit organization that’s working for government and electoral change in India, Dr. Anupam Srivastva, Managing Director, Invest India, Madhav Nalpat, Director of the Geopolitics and International Relations Department at Manipal University and Yashwant Deshmukh, prominent broadcast journalist and founder of C-voter.
The various questions they were asked ranged from effectiveness of the next government to implement the bills to how will the government curb the rampant corruption and what is the 100 day plan? Predictions were also made that the Bhartiya Janata Party led alliance (National Democratic Alliance) will get a minimum of 230 seats in the Indian parliamentary elections, according to Mr. Yeshwant Deshmukh, of C-Voter, a leading polling agency. In such a situation, the NDA will be well placed to attract support from some of the regional parties – to easily cross the magical figure of 271 to form the next government in India.
Participants across 9 cities, which included leaders of the Indian American community, policy-makers at Capitol Hill, investment bankers and investors from the Wall Street along with technology entrepreneurs and academicians connected through the call.
With the first two calls turning out to be such a raging success, the rest of the calls are set to witness an even better response. As Sanjay Puri, Chairman, USINPAC says, “There is significant interest in the U.S. about the upcoming elections in India. Policy makers, businesses, and investors want to evaluate the developments. Major policy and business decisions would depend on the outcome of these elections. Through this initiative we aim to provide a better understanding of India to our U.S. members so that bilateral relations which are seeing a rocky present have a cooperative future.”
This week the panel of experts will comprise of Prof. Chintamani Mohapatra and Rajiv Kumar. To register for the call, click here.

India currently stands as the best model of democracy and stability in South Asia. Pakistan has been unable to shake free of a history of Islamic extremism. Afghanistan continues to face daily domestic security challenges and serious obstacles to development. Bangladesh yet again appears to be in the throes of political instability, with Prime Minister Sheik Hasina’s facing acts of violence from Islamist groups and activists affiliated with the opposition parties. Sri Lanka remains burdened with the difficulties that follow a prolonged and violent civil war. Of course, countries surrounding South Asia—such as Burma and Iran—face numerous challenges as well.

These realities must drive U.S. policy in the region.
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (HI-2) understands this. From even before taking the oath of office, she has supported a stronger U.S. relationship with India because she recognizes that India is a friend in a region of the world riddled with unfriendly actors.
As a result, when some members of Congress cosponsored House Resolution 417—a bill that unfairly criticizes the Indian national and state governments’ application and enforcement of religious freedom laws, particularly with respect to the 2002 religious riots in Gujarat—she promptly argued against it. This was the right decision. Rep. Gabbard stated about the United States and India, “It is critically important that we focus on strengthening the ties between the two nations, and I do not believe that H. Res. 417 accomplishes this.”
It was particularly important that Rep. Gabbard pointed to India’s rich history of allowing a litany of religions—including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Tibetan Buddhism—to prosper.

Rep. Gabbard concluded that “India is a democratic multi-cultural and multi-faith society, and shares many common values and strategic interests with the United States.” She recognizes that the United States and India are natural friends and also that the former has much to gain from a good relationship with latter, stating, “I think it is critical the US and India have strong ties. A strong partnership with India will be a huge win for the US.”
The U.S. India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) supports Rep. Gabbard not only for her advocacy of improved U.S-India relations, but also for a number of other reasons.

Most importantly, Rep. Gabbard has served America honorably, having enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard in April 2003 and deployed since then to both Iraq and Kuwait. She received the Meritorious Service Medal for her work during Operation Iraqi Freedom and an award of appreciation from the Kuwaiti military—the first woman ever to do so. Even now, as a Congresswoman, she is a Military Police Company Commander with the Hawaii National Guard.
By gaining valuable experience in the military, she has also been able to bolster the effort to fight for the right of women to serve in all military capacities, including combat roles.
Rep. Gabbard was one of the first two female combat veterans to be elected to Congress. Her current committee assignments in the House of Representatives include the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Homeland Security. Through this portfolio, she has begun to strengthen her credentials in foreign policy and national security, issues which will only become more important as new global threats arise to challenge the United States.
USINPAC recognizes that Rep. Gabbard’s continued presence in Congress is good for both the security of the United States and for U.S.-India bilateral relations, which include such areas as counterterrorism, defense, and trade. USINPAC supported Tulsi Gabbard before she was elected to Congress, and it will continue to support her during her time in office.

Indian-American businessman Gopal T K Krishna has been elected as the co-chair of the Republican Party in the US state of Iowa.

Krishna, who is a successful businessman with a background in electrical engineering, was elected for this second top most Republican position in Iowa along with Danny Carroll, who was elected as Chairman.

“I have been, and am a Republican for all Republicans. The first three letters of my name are G-O-P. I ran because I don’t want to wait until the primary elections to promote unity.

“I want to continue to increase our party’s voter registration advantage and participation in the forthcoming elections,” Krishna said after he was elected by the 18-member governing board at the Republican Party headquarters in Des Moines.

Krishna received 11 votes and six board members abstained. He has been elected seven times to the state central committee. This was his fourth election as co-chairman.

“I look forward to working with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to advance the Growth and Opportunity Project, work to reach out to minorities and bring new people into our Republican Party,” said Krishna.

“As long as I am Co-Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, outreach to all minority communities will be a priority,” said Krishna, who is from the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition.

Source: Business Standard

National elections in the world’s largest democracy have always been a grand spectacle. The Election Commission of India approximated that about 788 million voters are eligible to vote in 2014, an electorate that’s more than double the population of the United States. Analysts from Election Commission mentioned that almost 90,000 voters, between the ages of 18 to 22 years, will be eligible to vote for the first time in each Lok Sabha constituency this year. Notably, the number of first time voters is more than the winning margin in 226 constituencies. Social media and the birth of latest technological trends have taken politics to a new pedestal amongst the youth. . Therefore it is highly important for all parties to make their presence on the internet effectively so that they can cash in on the phenomenal visibility of the social media. Indian politicians are expected to invest about $5 billion on campaigning for 2014 elections, a sum second only to the most expensive US presidential campaign of all time in a splurge that could mushroom India’s economy. The overall investment in 2014 is all set to be triple the expenditure spent during the last national poll in 2009. This matrix clearly indicates that this year the elections would be a game changer for India and the world.

The upcoming elections are stirring the global audience considerably. Political parties are trying their best to woo Indians abroad ahead of India’s parliamentary elections. The United States and China are the two countries whose opinions matter the most to India. Reportedly in the US, Indian political parties have created a spark amongst Indian Americans. Indians living in the United States understand India’s true potential at a very fundamental level. They care about the role India plays in the US and globally. Supporting this viewpoint Sanjay Puri, chairman of the (USINPAC) US India Political Action Committee, says “This election and a resultant government either incumbent or new can do a lot of good for India and Indian Americans in addressing”. He further remarked that, “Indian Americans take pride in their origins and being an Indian. This election will have an impact on key aspects of India’s foreign policy given that the existing coalition government has been hamstrung due to coalition politics on several issues”. Many Indian Americans believe that more educated professionals need to participate in the political process in India.

The 2014 Indian general election is all set to enhance India’s economy, and at the same time it will also have an intense effect on the United States. This election comes at a time when the relationship between the US and India is getting stronger. This will eventually give a silver lining to both the democratic nations by establishing a strong bilateral strategic partnership through various yardsticks.

Of all the amazing, beautiful and unique things about India, perhaps the most stunning is the grand spectacle of the general elections in the world’s largest democracy. Every five years millions of people across this vast land stand patiently in line to invoke the power of their vote. This is one day we all have a voice and without a hint of bloodshed, entire governments change.

In the last general elections, the voting population of India was 714 million. Five years have passed and a lot has changed in the political landscape, with new players and new parties joining the race. The voters are taken very seriously, especially if it is an election year, and the Election Commission of India celebrated National Voters Day in January and the theme not surprisingly was ‘Ethical Voting.’ Out of the new voters enrolled for this election year, 127 million are the newly eligible 18 year olds. With this, the total Indian electorate is a whopping 800 million. The world will witness again this huge mass of humanity conduct a peaceful exercise of democracy and then the wait shall begin for the results.

It is worth mentioning that while the elections are being played out in India, some of the most avid watchers are thousands of miles away and separated by oceans and continents—in America. Some of them who left their homeland over 30 to 40 years ago will still keenly follow the details on television, Indian newspapers and by phone calls to the family in India. Many Indians infact have become American citizens and are also involved in voting in America, but somehow this election continents away gets them all worked up. Perhaps it has to do with their coming-of-age years.

Going the American Way

Few days back, 250 high net worth individuals from Bangalore paid Rs 20,000 per plate to attend a fundraiser for the Aam Aadmi Party at Capital Hotel in Bangalore. At another similar event in Nagpur, Arvind Kejriwal spoke to a 150-plus crowd that had paid Rs 10,000 apiece to listen to him. The Rs 65-70 lakh which AAP managed to raise at the two events was the first ever by an Indian political party through a channel popular mostly in western democracies, especially America.  The very reason why AAP is organizing fundraisers is to keep up with their commitment to bring transparency into election funding. They are simply trying to stick to their mantra which is “to raise money over the table, not under the table.” Not just that, they have also published the names of their donors, again very much a common American practice. BJP tried their hand at something similar for those attending Modi rallies by collecting a token amount of Rs 5/10 per head which didn’t really create the same impact as AAP managed.

This isn’t the only American method adopted for the forthcoming high-decibel Indian elections, and the trend isn’t limited to new outfits like AAP. Parties across the spectrum are adopting many popular practices which till now were limited to American politics. The Congress party’s decision to hold primaries in select constituencies — in the teeth of opposition from local party chiefs — and its main opponent BJP’s decision to project Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, way ahead of the elections, are both reminiscent of the American Presidential elections. The extensive use of social media and even the debates being organized by the civil society add more than an American touch to the heat and dust of our parliamentary process.

As it stands now urban and global Indians abhor the current state of politics in India and truly believe that it is merely a personality aberration of politicians. As voters, we always hope to have a different view from what we see in our politics, which explain the reason behind opinion surveys, report cards of MPs by voters etc. The very notion that politics and politicians are a mirror to society and are mere manifestations of ourselves is often dismissed callously or avoided by our urban class. If we accept two premises: that elections in India are free and fair and a majority of voters do vote, then we have to accept that what we see is who we are. That Churchillian quote: “In functioning democracies, you often get the government you deserve” rings true to date.

The USINPAC Initiative

United States India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) has launched a series of conference calls with expert Indian political analysts including the likes of Yashwant Deshmukh, Madhav Nalpat, Jagdeep Chhokar, Rajiv Kumar and Anupam Srivastava.  The invited Indian experts will offer their analysis and their forecasts for the election.  Our goal is to provide you with the opportunity to hear from and engage with these experts.

After all, this is as big as it gets. The Indian Elections 2014 is quite possibly the biggest show on the planet and we want to make sure you get a ringside view of the whole event. Let the show of people’s power BEGIN!