Elections in 5 States – Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur have been announced by the Election Commission a day before. In the light of the said announcement, all the political parties have buckled up in what is going to be the Prelims for General Elections 2024. More than 15 Crore people going to elect their state assembly representatives is a huge test for all the political players in India.

A much more important point in this scenario is, citizens from other states will be spectators to a show not a bit less entertaining than a 70 MM ‘Zanjeer’ or ‘Sholay.’ I am going to call citizens from other states as ‘non-polling citizens’ NPCs in short! NPCs should be observant of relevant political situations in their neighbouring state or the largest one – Uttar Pradesh! Because, some of the tactics which suceed in these elections will be used on you in the 2024 General Elections. The tactics can range from PM’s cavalcade to Priyanka’s broom to Lalu Prasad’s several illnesses. NPCs will be spectator to pre-poll promises which will be largely hollow. Human nature is such that, he/she can identify geniuneness of an offer when it is NOT made to him/her. In the same fashion, promises made to citizens will be a good point of analysis.

Another, plot to look out for is the communal tone added by the leaders in their campaigns, Mandir, Masjid, Minority, Majority, Bramhinwaad, Who is eating your seats?, Dalit such words will be thrown off very casually in every interview, speech and rally. But even after 75 years no leader will promise a practical solution from the caste and communal problem, the leaders will want the adrenaline of religion to flow till you press the button of their party on the polling day. Till the polling day comes, this show would have reached it’s interval. The second half will be declaration of results and post-poll adjustments ( I never call them alliances, because they are not). This whole show will end with many sore losers (many of them are poll predictors actually) and some moral victors and some real victors. The whole point being, if the polls are NOT happening in your states, you need to be more careful.