Can any Bollywood drama ever compare with the awesome spectacle of an Indian election?
Let us check out how much you know about the Great Election Tamasha.
A quiz we will publish every working day till May 13, the day we know who we have elected to the 14th Lok Sabha.
1. 1999: the Congress got 42.79% of the vote in this state, but won just 5 seats. The BJP, on the other hand, got just 9.90% of the votes cast, but won 7 seats. Which state are we talking about? a. Orissa. b. Tamil Nadu. c. Andhra Pradesh.
Wrong! Try again..
Wrong! The correct answer is C. In 1984, Andhra Pradesh -- a state which was not overwhelmed by the national sympathy wave in the wake of Indira Gandhi's assassination -- preferred to vote for N T Rama Rao's Telugu Desam. The Congress won 6 Lok Sabha seats in 1984 against the TDP's 30. This in a state, which voted all but one of its 42 MPs Congress in the two previous elections, in 1977 and 1980. The 1999 results were the worst for the Congress ever, in AP. In 1989, after its 1984 debacle in AP, the Congress came back to win 39 seats in the state. From 1991, of course, the Congress has steadily declined -- 25 seats in 1991 and 1996, 22 in 1998 and 5 in 1999!
Correct! In 1984, Andhra Pradesh -- a state which was not overwhelmed by the national sympathy wave in the wake of Indira Gandhi's assassination -- preferred to vote for N T Rama Rao's Telugu Desam. The Congress won 6 Lok Sabha seats in 1984 against the TDP's 30. This in a state, which voted all but one of its 42 MPs Congress in the two previous elections, in 1977 and 1980. The 1999 results were the worst for the Congress ever, in AP. In 1989, after its 1984 debacle in AP, the Congress came back to win 39 seats in the state. From 1991, of course, the Congress has steadily declined -- 25 seats in 1991 and 1996, 22 in 1998 and 5 in 1999!
2. The BJP made its debut in South India in 1984, winning the Hanamkonda seat in Andhra Pradesh, one of two seats it won in the Lok Sabha that year. Which former AP chief minister was defeated by the BJP's P J Reddy? a. Kasu Brahmananda Reddy. b. Marri Chenna Reddy. c. P V Narasimha Rao.
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Wrong! The correct answer is C. Just seven years later, Narasimha Rao would notch up a world record winning margin in Nandyal, but in 1984, he tasted dust in a constituency where he had won two earlier Lok Sabha elections (1977 and 1980), defeating the same P J Reddy. It would take the BJP seven years to open its account in Karnataka in 1991, and 14 years to do likewise in Tamil Nadu.
Correct! Just seven years later, Narasimha Rao would notch up a world record winning margin in Nandyal, but in 1984, he tasted dust in a constituency where he had won two earlier Lok Sabha elections (1977 and 1980), defeating the same P J Reddy. It would take the BJP seven years to open its account in Karnataka in 1991, and 14 years to do likewise in Tamil Nadu.
3. Hanamkonda, as we just told you, was one of only two Lok Sabha seats the BJP won in 1984. Which was the other? a. Mehsana, Gujarat. b. Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. c. Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
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Wrong! The correct answer is A. Dr Amratbhai Kalidas Patel is a trendsetter, someone who opened the BJP's account in a state that the party has become so identified with, when none of Gujarat's current leaders were on the electoral horizon. Dr Patel held the seat through five more elections, before unexpectedly losing to Atmaram Maganbhai Patel of the Congress by 55,735 votes in 1999. It was one of only six seats the Congress won in the state.
Correct! Dr Amratbhai Kalidas Patel is a trendsetter, someone who opened the BJP's account in a state that the party has become so identified with, when none of Gujarat's current leaders were on the electoral horizon. Dr Patel held the seat through five more elections, before unexpectedly losing to Atmaram Maganbhai Patel of the Congress by 55,735 votes in 1999. It was one of only six seats the Congress won in the state.
4. George Fernandes' father-in-law was a member of Parliament, of course a few years before George married his daughter. His name? Clue: he was elected from the West Bengal constituency of Basirhat. a. Rafi Ahmed Kidwai. b. Dr Humayun Kabir. c. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
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Wrong! The correct answer is B. Dr Humayun Kabir was a renowned educationist and a sterling parliamentarian who held his own against both Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter. A former associate of Maulana Azad, he was elected from Basirhat in 1962 as a CPI candidate and five years later as a nominee of the Bangla Congress. Interestingly, the Bangla Congress won five of the seven Lok Sabha seats it contested in 1967, before becoming the Amara Bengali party in 1971, the last year it won a parliamentary seat in Bengal. Dr Kabir, who died in 1969 aged 63, had a daughter Leila, who married George Fernandes. Leila Fernandes is a distinguished social activist; the couple has one son, who, we hear, works in New York.
Correct! Dr Humayun Kabir was a renowned educationist and a sterling parliamentarian who held his own against both Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter. A former associate of Maulana Azad, he was elected from Basirhat in 1962 as a CPI candidate and five years later as a nominee of the Bangla Congress. Interestingly, the Bangla Congress won five of the seven Lok Sabha seats it contested in 1967, before becoming the Amara Bengali party in 1971, the last year it won a parliamentary seat in Bengal. Dr Kabir, who died in 1969 aged 63, had a daughter Leila, who married George Fernandes. Leila Fernandes is a distinguished social activist; the couple has one son, who, we hear, works in New York.
5. External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha represented Hazaribagh in the last Lok Sabha. One of India's best-known hoteliers was briefly an MP from this constituency, which was then in Bihar and is now in Jharkhand. His name? a. Ajit Kerkar. b. M S Oberoi. c. Krishna Kumar.
Wrong! Try again..
Wrong! The correct answer is B. Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1962 and 1972. In between, the man who begin his career as a clerk and created the fine Oberoi chain of hotels, won a by-election to the Lok Sabha from Hazaribagh. One of the many interesting things he did in his 103-year life.
Correct! Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1962 and 1972. In between, the man who begin his career as a clerk and created the fine Oberoi chain of hotels, won a by-election to the Lok Sabha from Hazaribagh. One of the many interesting things he did in his 103-year life.
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