A billion votes in the largest democracy

The largest democracy goes for polls in this season. The clarity for electing the central government is more murkier than the size of the electorate.
The federal confusion
The national elections many times follow a pattern where people gives a referendum on the performance on the state governments rather than evaluating the central government performance. And then comes the regional parties which are highly restricted to a single state and people are left with little options as the national parties are virtually absent from such states as in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
Caste still matters
The talk of development alone cannot win elections but the mix with caste combinations usually pays rich dividends. The caste still caters to a lot of voters even today. All major parties do address this issue by profiling the candidates to suit the most for the constituency's caste demography.
The outcome is still messier
The presence of a multiparty system, the caste based voting patterns and development taking a relatively back seat ensures that the outcomes are more messy to form a government. The multiple factors ensures the confusion associated with our democracy continues.