India: Democracy Triumphs Yet Again

India witnessed peaceful general elections in which the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won a decisive victory. It was a personal triumph for Sonia Gandhi (photo above), President of the Congress Party, and her son, Rahul Gandhi, an alumni of Rollins College in Florida, who spearheaded the election campaign.

India election results topped trend on Twitter worldwide. (See here…) Mr Manmohan Singh will take fresh oath this week, only the second Indian Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to return to power after a full five-year term,” reports The Hindustan Times.

“With 206 seats in the lower house of the Parliament (that has a total of 543 seats), India’s grand old party ran up its best tally in 18 years, winning urban and rural seats from across the country.

“The victory also boosted the standing of party general secretary Rahul Gandhi (39) who led the charge into India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh — where the Congress won 21 seats, the highest in 25 years.” More here…

Surrounded by countries that are often in turmoil, including Pakistan, Nepal, Burma, etc, India stands out as beacon of hope for democracy in South Asia. Some statistics: Eligible voters – 714 million; Polling centres – 828,804.

India held general elections—the largest democratic election in the world—to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases on April 16, April 22/23, April 30, May 7 and May 13, 2009. The results of the election were announced on May 16, 2009. (More here…)