Psephology

Dictionary.com defines pse·phol·o·gy as n. The study of political elections.

Psephology is that branch of inexact science that in India is a long way from maturity.

As pre-election opinion polls and during-elections exit polls have been,well, consistently inconsistent.

The 2008 Karnataka poll is the most recent empirical evidence to help one arrive at this conclusion.

Universal adult franchise, enables the entire population above the age of 18 to constitute the electoral college. The sample interviewed by the pollsters /psephology team is probably too small a sample to predict the outcome.

Prannoy Roy, Yogendra Yadav, Rajdeep Sardesai et al have gone awfully wrong in foretelling the minds of the voter. The ballot box that contains the votes ( or should we say the electronic voting machines -EVM s-) continues to be a box whose secret key is yet to found.