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India has never before witnessed such mobilisation of international and national support for a person imprisoned within its borders. Twentytwo Nobel laureates from different countries have issued spirited statements of protest against the continued detention of Dr. Binayak Sen, a public health activist and civil liberties defender.

New Delhi: Congress led UPA emerged as winner in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections and the alliance is claiming it to be a mandate for good governance and development, but the truth is otherwise.

The expected has happened in Punjab and Haryana. The Congress has humbled the BJP and its allies in the Lok Sabha elections making handsome gains. It is only in Himachal Pradesh where the outcome is not in keeping with the national trend with the BJP virtually sweeping the polls. The Left parties and the BSP have drawn a blank in all the three states.

Not to indulge in self-glorification but to better dissect the electoral riddle, let me recall an observation this writer made when the election process commenced in mid-April.

The 2009 elections to the 15th Lok Sabha have handed the Congress a historic win and greater latitude, uninhibited by coalition pressures, to take the country forward in a way it meets the aspirations of better life for hundreds of millions who otherwise have been marginalised in the race for growth first and equity later.

The BJP's defeat in two successive general elections is both good news and bad news. To start with the second, there is little doubt that its reverses will be regarded by the party as very much a mortal blow, which it may not be able to withstand in the long run. The reason is that the BJP is not a normal party, accepting the phenomenon of winning and losing elections as an inevitable part of the democratic process.

NEW DELHI: The results of the 15th Lok Sabha elections have given a big jolt to the Left as there has been a big reduction in its seats in the new house. But far more important is its impact on the role of the Left as a strategic player in power politics at the Centre.

Electronic media exit polls, furiously unleashed at the end of the final phase of polling on May 13, confirmed the general expectation of a hung Parliament, irrespective of which of the two leading parties made it with the largest number on its own, to cross the first hurdle to staking its claim to form a Government.

It may not have been one of Tata group's best overseas acquisitions, but the takeover of the sinking Jaguar-Land Rover manufacturing outfits from the US automobile giant, Ford Motors, was regarded as the best New Year gift of 2008 by the people of the UK, where the JLR plants are located providing livelihood to thousands of local workers in these units and ancillary facilities.

With ballots locked up in the electronic voting machines, the next step for political parties is to regroup and bid for power. The next few days will see bargaining and money power in full swing.