NEW DELHI, Nov. 20 -- If November has been a month of festivals, it is also an election month for five states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram. At the time of writing, two states have already completed the election process. Another will go to polls by the time this write-up is published.

Elections are no less than a festival. People from various political parties, who occasionally show their faces for inaugurating a building or a scheme or a road etc., or are mostly visible on TV shows or newspaper advertisements, make themselves available for khulle darshan, usually dressed in a desi attire (often a white kurta pajama and a kohlapuri chappal) with an invisible neck covered with garlands. With broad smile...