On 16th May
2016, Tamil Nadu goes to polls. The
tenure of fourteenth Assembly of Tamil Nadu ends in 22 May 2016. There are over
5.79 crore voters in the electoral rolls and 65,616 polling stations in Tamil
Nadu. In Feb 2016, Election Commission of India announced that 17
assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu will have Voter-verified paper audit
trail (VVPAT) machines attached along with EVMs. In the peak summer, election fever is raging
on and we are already witnessing door-to-door campaigns, unabashed show of
money and muscle power by some parties.
Miles away, there is
another election in the offing – on Nov 8, 2016, US elections are to be
held. During this presidential election
year, the President of the United States and Vice President will be elected. In
addition, elections will be held for all 435 voting-member seats in the United
States House of Representatives. Twelve
state governorships, two territorial governorships, and numerous other state
and local elections will also be contested. In what will be the 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election, a
simple majority (270) of the 538 electoral votes are required to win the
election. The incumbent president, Democrat Barack
Obama, is ineligible to be elected to a third term due to term limits
established by the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are currently leading the polls.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich
suspended his presidential campaign yesterday, a decision that leaves Donald
Trump free to cruise to the GOP nomination unfettered. In an emotional speech
in Columbus, Kasich said voters had "changed me with the stories of their
lives," and he recounted some of the most poignant moments of his
campaign. He said he was ready for the next phase of his political life, but he
didn't say what that might be — and he made no comments about Trump. "I
have always said that the Lord has a purpose for me, as he has for
everyone," Kasich said. "As I suspend my campaign today, I have
renewed faith, deeper faith, that the Lord will show me the way forward and
fulfill the purpose of my life." Kasich's press conference in Columbus was
a hastily arranged event, coming hours after he cancelled a full day of
fundraisers and press appearances that signalled he would barrel ahead with his
bid.
Donald J.
Trump is now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but he is also
keenly aware that many in his own party — and many Americans, frankly — are
scared and anxious about the idea of him in the Oval Office. Even he is not
sure how a deeply divided nation would adjust to the first 100 days of a Trump
presidency. What he does know, however, is what he wants to do in those early
months. In a series of recent interviews, he sketched out plans that include
showdowns with business leaders over jobs and key roles for military generals, executives
and possibly even family members in advising him about running the country.
Shortly after the Nov. 8 election, President-elect Trump and his vice president — most likely a governor or member of Congress — would begin interviewing candidates for the open Supreme Court seat and quickly settle on a nominee in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia. He would start “building a government based on relationships,” perhaps inviting the Republican leaders Paul D. Ryan and Mitch McConnell to escape the chilly Washington fall and schmooze at Mar-a-Lago over golf and two-pound lobsters. On Inauguration Day, he would go to a “beautiful” gala ball or two, but focus mostly on rescinding Obama executive orders on immigration and calling up corporate executives to threaten punitive measures if they shift jobs out of the United States. And by the end of his first 100 days as the nation’s 45th leader, the wall with Mexico would be designed, the immigration ban on Muslims would be in place, the audit of the Federal Reserve would be underway and plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act would be in motion. “I know people aren’t sure right now what a President Trump will be like,” he said. “But things will be fine. I’m not running for president to make things unstable for the country.” Despite his radical vision of how to remake America, and all his outrageous talk on juvenile subjects like his anatomy — to say nothing of the polls showing him behind Hillary Clinton — Jan. 20 may find the most underestimated politician in America assuming the presidency. While professing some surprise at his success, Mr. Trump increasingly sounds like a man who thinks he knows where he will be eight months from now, and the unrivaled power he will hold. He talked of turning the Oval Office into a high-powered board room, empowering military leaders over foreign affairs specialists in national security debates, and continuing to speak harshly about adversaries. “As president, I’ll be working from the first day with my vice president and staff to make clear that America will be changing in major ways for the better,” Mr. Trump said in a telephone interview on Saturday. “We can’t afford to waste time. I want a vice president who will help me have a major impact quickly on Capitol Hill, and the message will be clear to the nation and to people abroad that the American government will be using its power differently.” He wants to put strong-willed people — business executives and generals are mentioned most often — in charge of cabinet agencies and throughout his senior staff, and direct them to negotiate deals and plans with congressional leaders and state officials, as well as insurance companies and others in the private sector. They say he will accomplish the things he has promised or else keep trying, well aware that his supporters will have his head if he does not. Modern America has never seen anything like a Trump administration. Business leaders and even entertainment figures new to politics have been elected governors, of course, and insurgents. Democrats and some Republicans have warned that financial markets would react poorly and that Mr. Trump’s protectionist stances might plunge the country into recession, but he insisted that trade is “killing the country” and “the markets would be fine.”
For good or ill, he would command the nation’s attention unlike any modern president, and not simply because of his penchant for redecorating in gold and renaming planes and buildings after himself. (For the record, he said he had no ambitious renovation plans.) U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump thinks India is doing well, but that the country isn’t getting the attention it deserves. “India is doing great. Nobody talks about it,” Mr. Trump told CNN recently. Mr. Trump’s brief praise for the fast-growing South Asian economy was a reaction to comments he made in a 2007 interview in which he expressed concern about the U.S. economy being overtaken by India and China. His impersonation of an Indian call center worker in a speech in Delaware recently did not go well with the Indian populace though. I know little of US politics, but does get a feeling that lot of thinking and strategy precedes the candidature ~ and we perhaps pale in comparison in a State where we know for thyself as to what is flowing and what is in the offing for all of us .. let us, put our minds and vote for the best Candidate, the candidate who is not corrupt, who can understand the State and can think on his own !! – sure you can find one in your constituency. I have analysed the candidates of my area, and found at least two of them eligible !! With regards – S. Sampathkumar. 5th May 2016
** the one coloured – largely reproduced from NY Times.
