DELHI-NAMA: The Great Indian Elections Inc.

India's fourteenth general election has not only created a frisson of excitement up and below the Tropic of Cancer, it also threatens to upset the perceived wisdom of drawing-room cynics. As the world's largest democracy votes in the second phase of a four-part election today (the last vote will be cast on May 10), the contours of a gathering 'lehar' (wave) signify a possible emasculation of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that has governed India for the last five years, an upsurge for the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress party, and best of all, a rejuvenated third force that could have the capacity to make or break power partnerships.

Take Prime Minister Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which after the first phase of polling on April 20, looks like it could hold on to its existing 182 tally with the sheer grit and tenacity reminiscent of a boxing champion. Problem is whether other key parties in the NDA will have the resilience to prove to the people to vote them in, again, after refusing to live up to the promises they variously made on the 'bijli', 'sadak,' 'paani' issues. Clearly, 'development' issues are beginning to finally acquire an aura that is large enough to possibly overwhelm both political guile and aging charisma.

The plight of India's southern computer czars is a case in point. Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a key ally of the BJP-government who has been feted worldwide for his visionary initiatives on computer programming and outsourcing, is believed to be desperately running for cover. Coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh have been hit by a spate of farmer suicides, after crops failed year after year and banks called in loans buried under a mountain of debt. It's a terrible story and it has created major inroads into the 'India Shining' campaign of the BJP.

Then there's Karnataka, home to India's Silicon Valley and the source of numerous Underdog-beats-First-World stories, especially in the American media (read Thomas Friedman in the 'New York Times' for proof). Chief minister S M Krishna of the Congress party, who could protect the home base in the assembly polls, seems like he could lose the parliament seats to the opposition. The reason? It's called 'anti-incumbency,' a euphemism for 'get the hell out of here quickly'.

In the 14th general election, the electorate seems to have taken a cue from the nail-biting finishes of the recent India-Pakistan cricket matches. A month ago, few would have given Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's widow and Indira Gandhi's daughter-in-law, an outside chance. Today, the BJP-led opposition has simply failed to make her 'foreign origin' a major election issue. Many, even as they feel uncomfortable about the dynastic character of the Congress, recognise that the other parties, including the BJP, are equally guilty of the same failing.

So when Rahul Gandhi, son and heir to the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty, decides to contest from the 'family' constituency of Amethi, you can't deny that you're witnessing a slice of history-in-the-making. Sister Priyanka, whose ramrod straight posture reminds people of her grandmother Indira Gandhi, exhorts the crowd to 'vote for development, nothing else'. Then the crush begins to chant, 'Yug-yug ka rishta hai/Rahul Gandhi farishta hai' (This is a bond of generations/Rahul Gandhi is our messiah). Watching the scene, even on television, makes your hair stand on end.

That's the contradiction of the Indian election. The Rahul-Priyanka duo has so galvanised the Hindi heartland with their direct, disarming appeal, that the BJP could be in for real trouble. Internal party assessments are giving it a mere 22 seats, down from 29 in the last election. An Indian Express-NDTV poll even puts deputy PM L K Advani neck-and-neck with Priyanka and Rahul. While Advani gets 61 percent of the vote after Phase Two of the voting, Priyanka gets 63 and Rahul an amazing 64 percent. Only Prime Minister Vajpayee is leagues ahead with 85 percent of the vote.

More and more, it seems, Vajpayee will be bailing out the NDA this election again. His growing popularity across the North-South divide is largely based on his repeated attempts at 'dialogue', whether with Pakistan, recalcitrant Kashmiri leaders or with the embittered Muslim electorate in Gujarat. He's still the only BJP leader who has roundly, and more than once, condemned the pogrom in that state two years ago. Gujarat should never have happened. Muslims cannot be made to feel 'left out' of the political process. And, the BJP must grow to subsume more than one political school of thought.

Vajpayee's apologies may not turn the clock back, but surely they've helped the Supreme Court intervene in the last few weeks, in the midst of the election process, to help bring relief to some of the victims of the Gujarat massacre. It has also given space to the Congress to hone their attack and drive home the stiletto. India may not be all 'shining,' but its still worth fighting for.

That's how the canvas is likely to unfold over the next few weeks: bittersweet, even prickly, with major politicians being forced to swallow their hubris at the hands of a jeering electorate. This is what 'democracy' does to you, at least once every five years. Watched over by a pugnacious Election Commission which suddenly acquires teeth for a few weeks, tested by invasive television channels and castigated in print - especially, powerful local newspapers and magazines in scores of languages - the Indian voter knows that he is all-powerful for the space of that day. For all those who sneer at the Great Indian Elections and pronounce it a bit of a sham, just take that flight over the Himalayas, across the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea, over a few international borders and one line of control. It promises to be a humbling experience. Also, loads of fun.