Jayalalitha

It is a shame that some politicians want mercy for criminals whose mercy petitions are rejected by the President. Some months back a Sikh terroristâ€™s petition was rejected and Akali and Congress politicians from Punjab wanted mercy for him. The terrorist had gone to Supreme Court and wanted his petition to be settled one way or other and after the rejection he has gone to court challenging the dismissal.

Now some politicians from Tamil Nadu want mercy for three Tamil terrorists. It is perverse for Karunanidhi to ask mercy for Rajiv Gandhiâ€™s killers claiming Rajiv Gandhi would have shown mercy under similar circumstances. Rajiv Gandhi did not die alone. Fifteen innocent people, including nine policemen on duty, died in the blast. No thought is given to them. The terrorists have appealed to Madras High Court on the ground of delay in decision. Karunanidhi, Vaiko and other politicians who oppose death penalty had lost elections.

Part of the problem is that India had wrong people as Presidents. The delay in deciding on mercy petitions started with K. R. Narayaran who did not want to reject any mercy petition. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam rejected one mercy petition and after that refused to reject. Pratibha Patil did not want to reject mercy petitions for three years and ten months. Governments of the day did not act against them and MPs did not impeach them.

Delay in deciding mercy petition is not cruel. There is no double punishment. Delayed time is bonus for criminals. They get to live longer. There is no anguish or psychological trauma. There is hope.

Jayalalitha said she has no power to pardon and the criminals can go to President again. Subramanian Swamy said the overwhelming majority of people in Tamil Nadu want the three hanged. There is no question of showing any compassion beyond normal process.

It is strange that High Courts entertain petitions related to death penalty decided by Supreme Court and rejected by President. There should be a ban on such things. There should be only one mercy petition and hanging should take place soon after rejection.

Election results for Legislative Assemblies in four states and one union territory are out. In Assam it is third time successively for Congress and allies. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee led TMC-Congress defeated Left Front which was in power for 34 years. In Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Jayalalitha led AIADMK and partners to victory over DMK-Congress coalition. In Kerala, UDF won, LDF lost.

CPI-M and CPI lost power in West Bengal and Kerala. They are in coalition with ADMK but did not contest many seats. Congress was in the winning combinations in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments have changed every five years for the past few times. BJP lost seats in Assam and did not win seats in other states. Congress is happy that BJP did not do well.

In Kerala it was a close contest with UDF winning 72 seats and LDF winning 68 seats out of 140 seats. In Tamil Nadu, out of 234 seats, AIADMK alliance won 204 seats and DMK alliance won 30 seats. It is said that corruption, family rule, nepotism and arrogance led to DMK defeat and people took money but did not vote for it. In West Bengal, out of 294 seats TMC alliance won 228 seats, Left Front 61 seats and five seats went to others. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and many ministers lost their seats. In Assam, out of 126 seats Congress alliance won 80 and others won 46 seats.

Mamata Banerjee wants railway ministry to remain with TMC. That is likely. Union Cabinet reshuffle is expected by the end of the month.

Exit polls were generally right about who will win but were wrong about the number of seats.