Elections: a study in contrast

It will be an election day in England today. Will it be the Conservatives staying in power or will Labour dethrone them? That is not something a sports reporter from a different country should really be interested in. But it is very interesting in the context of the happenings before an election, which is completely different from what we have in our country.

Our election is more like the Champions League final that took place in Cardiff last week where the whole city was in gridlock with an influx of people. There was festivity, some sort of disorder and a financial windfall and the city cashed in in every way possible.

The England polls, on the other hand, are perhaps more like the current mundane Cardiff despite the fact that an important cricket tournament is going on. No posters, no festivity and more importantly, no frantic activity. It's like a 7:00am start of a game where you attend and then return home after the usual ritual. No holidays and no extra pay.

And they are very frank about it. Ask people and they will tell you which candidate they are voting for and there is no trick involved in it. This is a society where you will have to register well in advance if you want to vote. This is also a society where young people are less inclined to exercise their rights, something Labour would love to have. However, the Bangladeshi expats in England are as enthused to be part of the elections as they would be when at home. You will even find a few posters if you walk along East London, where a strong Bangladeshi community resides.

But you will otherwise not find a single poster in public or private places in England because it is banned. Think of a national election in Bangladesh, we burn money like anything to showcase the campaign and that too at the expense of the general public. I have been to a little demo of an election campaign on a weekend. There were quite a few doing door-to-door campaigns. But among them only one person entered the house of a prospective voter with the fear that a few more might disturb his own ambience.

We always say we have a 'peaceful election'. But I'm in a place far away from my home where an actual peaceful election will take place from 7:00am to 10:00pm today.