De'mock'racy

I hope all of you reading this post have excised their precious vote in the recently concluded parliamentary election. Ever since childhood, I was always deeply interested and enthralled by politics. I used to know all the cabinet and state ministers by heart. My ignorant phase of life!.
As i gained more of the so called "sixth" sense, i slowly lost the interest. In school, I remember studying that India, United States, United Kingdom, were all democracies. Truly, democracy is the best form of government i know of. But, Is the Indian Democracy a well devised system? I have serious doubts while ruminating upon the same.
If we look at the democracies of the UK and US, it is evident that they are very efficient and lucid systems. They have only two political parties, The Democrats and The Republicans.There's very little confusion in the people's minds. When I went to vote this year, I saw a long long list of candidates, with symbols ranging from Cricket Bats to Aeroplanes!. People are not sure of whom to vote, even after entering the polling booth. Every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to own a party in India. But we have to digest the fact that there is no way to minimise the parties in India. :(
In the United States, the Presidential debates are a very decisive factor by which the people decide their vote. Also, the people elect the President directly, unlike the Indian system, where the elected candidates determine the Prime Minister. Our system lacks clarity. People lack clarity. They rarely vote for the candidate. They always vote for the party. For example, even in my constituency, though there were several candidates hailing from here, the person elected was a total stranger to the place. "GOK" the way the electorals think in India.
The Indian politician is a "one of a kind" type. Just moments before i started to write this blog, Mr. Ramadoss was complaining on TV that the EVM's were responsible for his Party's dismal performance in the elections this year. I'll try to quote some of his lines. Translated in English of course. 'The EVM's work with microprocessors and microcontrollers. They can be programmed to work in the way the programmer wishes to. It is possible to record all votes for the same DMK candidate. With a Nation-wide conspiracy, Congress and DMK have managed to cheat in the elections and come to power." Since we can do nothing about our democratic system, let's enjoy lighter moments like these! :)