To a certain extent, the major word of this election is “governance”. But it is also important to note that “governance” is not “policy. Elections should also – in fact primarily – be about alternative policy directions, allowing individual voters to choose not just who implements policy, but what their preferred policy prescriptions are. The absence of policy debates in India’s democracy means that legislation is seen as being largely removed from the people. This often results in the preponderance of judging the executive functions of a parliamentarian, and not her legislative preferences. As long as Indian politics’ reluctance to discuss such disagreements continues, policy will be seen as being imposed from above – seen, in fact, as being essentially undemocratic. This is a weakness of India’s democracy, and it will cripple the reform process going forward.