There's a confusion, apathy and general disgust that seems to have affected the entire electorate. It's affected the intelligentsia as well, but they -- a highly informed, organised and keyed-in community -- are better equipped to form their arguments, focus their attention and pin down the maladies.

``We had formed a group comprising political scientists, sociologists, social scientists and activists after the 1996 general elections in Delhi to look into the working of this vast democracy. Elections, we feel, are one of the best means to analyse the whys and hows of this polity. We didn't realise we'd have one more election a couple of years on, followed by one the very next...'' Dr Priwardan Patel, of M S University's Political Science department, said.

So, then, if the set that is supposed to feel the pulse of this polity's throbbing the best is bewildered by the shape and composition that it has taken post-1991, can one blame the masses for having had their sanity shot by a plot as mystifying as a Le Carre thriller? `No' would be an easy way out. But why, in the first place, is India going through this phase of merry-go-round government? ``I'm looking at it (elections at regular intervals) positively because till Indian democracy matures, we will have to tolerate periodic elections. It eventually boils down to the people. Since 1991 they have not given a stable verdict,'' Dr Patel said.

What is the need of the hour? ``Yes, we need stability. But no one is hitting the right issues. No one addresses, say, price-rise, over-population, invasion by MNCs, proper division of national income, basic development of rural areas et al,'' said Markand Bhatt, a theatre activist.

A riddle inside an enigma wrapped in a mystery. Winston Churchill might have been talking about the Indian election process instead of the Soviet Union. And as the city's conscience-keepers gear up for another round of elections, they, of all people, will surely be able to spot some answers.