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“Bernie! Bernie!” the crowd chanted in Council Bluffs, Iowa on the campaign trail last week. But Bernie Sanders demurred. “It ain’t Bernie, it’s you. It’s not me, it is us.” The crowd responded with a new chant: “Not me, us! Not me, us!”

Mexico is celebrating the first 100 days of its cuarta transformación, or “fourth transformation.” The reference is to earlier major revolutions in Mexico: Independence from Spain, secular reforms under President Benito Juárez, the Mexican Revolution of 1910, and now the current transformation after the removal of the corrupt regimes of the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) and PAN (Partido Acción Nacional), the self-described conservative party.

The Opposition Is Failing Itself. None can deny; even the seasoned opposition politicians would confess that have failed to use the opportunity. Post Balakot massacre the fact cannot be denied that the entire opposition meekly surrendered to the power-hungry Modi-Shah pair.

Mamata Banerjee stole a march over her rivals by announcing her list of candidates for Lok Sabha within two days (March 14) of the Election Commission announcing the poll schedule. And the very next day, Central paramilitary forces arrived in the State and were deployed in the districts. Their presence was heartily welcomed by the opposition – BJP, Congress and CPI-M, while the TMC questioned the rationale behind their early deployment.. Whether their imposing omnipresence in the State will strike terror in some sections of the electorate while gladden the hearts of some others, is a moot question.

As Congress general-secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s boat glides down the Ganga, landlubbers Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav are looking at the crowds lined up on the banks of the river and getting nervous, not sure which way the current is flowing. “Don’t impose on us your presence and we do not want your largesse,” they both parrot. When was it that a politician, even a debut politician, take to a boat to test political waters? The three–front elections in Uttar Pradesh is going three different directions and when two of them meet mid-stream, it’s creating more than waves.

Good man Manohar Parrikar left the big bad world last Sunday evening and every one of note appeared on TV to say his/her piece. But the political atmosphere is so vitiated, it did not take long for the discordant to sound. A media bigwig, who in the 1990s was predicted will be the face of the Indian media come the future, buttonholed Farooq Abdullah, and asked him what he thought of Prime Minister Narendra Modi “forcing” an ill to near death Parrikar to continue working? Abdullah being sensitive-savvy told the media personality to give “it a little time.”

With elections round the corner, several important factors come into play for an electoral victory. They often influence voters, but they are not constant as they keep changing according to political situation at that particular time.

It all started in the 1990s, under a tough new chief election commissioner, T N Seshan. He was the first to seek and deploy central paramilitary forces to keep violence in check during an election and, in the process, try seriously to clean up the electoral system. Seshan was credited with effectively implementing the Model Code of Conduct for the first time, trying to rein in muscle and money power in elections, filing cases and arresting candidates for not abiding by polling rules, and suspending officials for aligning with candidates. Later, the Supreme Court also asked the government to ensure the availability of security forces during elections. The legacy continues though the election process has become more expensive, complex and controversial over the years. Some 1,20,000 paramilitary forces were deployed during the 2014 parliamentary election. The movement of such a large number of uniformed personnel through various parts of the country is quite time consuming. The same is in the case of polling staff and machines.

A couple of videos of prime-time shows on Pakistani TV news channels floating around on You-tube show nervous Pakistanis – the anchor, retired generals and politicians – not quite sure how China would vote as the hours built up to a finale on branding JeM terror boss Azhar Masood a global terrorist. The panelists couldn’t come to a consensus on which way Pakistan’s “all-weather friend” would lean.

Barely ten days left for the Brexit dateline to expire— March 29, 2019-- the Theresa May government is yet to evolve the future action; whether the UK will ask for some more time or prefer to continue to be a member of the European Union for some more years. She has no clear path before her for how to exit the EU. During her last two years of rule, May has simply created a political mess through her wavering handling of the issue. She has been not clear whether she should opt for no deal or deal-withdrawal or a second referendum.