India, May 3 -- Two rounds are done, five to go, here is the big question blowing in the excruciatingly hot summer wind this general election season. Despite the incessant drumbeat in TV studios and outside, why is the "festival" of democracy seeing a below-par turnout across the country? Heat, harvest, and long weekend holidays can only partly explain the turnout drop. Truth is, there is a democracy deficit in many parts of the country, leaving the average voter increasingly unenthused by the choices before her.

In the pre-election period, the buzz was centred around the Bharatiya Janata Party's triumphal slogan, "Abki Baar Char Sau Paar", almost as if the election itself was a "done deal" and the only thing that remained to be settled ...