India, April 24 -- Among the regions going to the polls this month, the contest in West Bengal is no doubt the most charged. The BJP believes it has the opportunity to dislodge the 15-year-old Trinamool Congress (TMC) administration in a state where political power has transferred only once in the past five decades. It has the makings of a blockbuster contest - the kind that energises Indian democracy, buoys turnout and pushes the indifferent to get off the fence and towards the voting booth. The first phase of polling reported a turnout of close to 92%.

Unfortunately, a cloud continues to hover over these elections - that of the millions of people left disenfranchised by the controversial logical discrepancy category in the special inte...