Elections in India seize everybody's imagination, locals as well as outsiders, because of the sheer excitement they offer.

Whenever the world's largest democracy votes, there is considerable political action and drama, which is evident with the kind of nail-biting finishes, the results throw-up. This leads one to wonder whether our politicians have taken cue from the exciting Indo-Pak cricket matches where terms like 'fight till the end' or 'do-or-die' comes into life.

Elections in India can be termed a festival of sorts, be it for the State Assemblies or the National Parliament, because of the issues that dominate, the stunts of politicians, the poll gimmicks that are resorted to and the latest trend of 'using' film stars in the campaign trails, along with the mundane poll activities like horse-trading, jumping loyalties, friends-turning-foes, allegations of back-stabbing etc etc.

On a serious note, Indian Elections have definitely turned in the right direction, with the Election Commission of India increasingly becoming pro-active resulting in the conduction of "organised elections", which in normal course would have been close to being a sham (as was seen in a few notorious States).

Elections were held for the Parliament along with Assembly elections for four States, viz; Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Sikkim.

Spotlight section for elections of different State Assemblies