India, May 5 -- My aged mother, living in one of the six states that went to the Assembly polls, was unsure if she would cast her ballot this time because of poor health. However, members of a certain party made arrangements for her commute to the polling booth, where she was told she could not vote. She had misplaced her Aadhaar card, and that stopped her from participating in the democratic process she had rarely missed. Yet she was not disappointed, for, in her words, "it doesn't matter who comes to power. They are all the same."

She and my late father had an allegiance to the Congress party and would show support to the "hand" regardless of who the candidate was. It had little to do with the party's ideology; they were not concerned ...