Some random thoughts on election coverage

Election results were announced today, so I watched a few hours of coverage. I am limited to watching, well, understanding really, the English language coverage, although I tried to at least watch some of the other languages too. The size and diversity of India comes through, and several things jump out:
-- the strength of regional parties is impressive. I keep wondering what language these folks, that often try to form coalitions in Delhi, use to talk to each other;
-- the graphics used are less colorfully informative than they would be in the US. For example, you have lots of GIS type district and state maps, but instead of the whole district being colored in (like in our lovely red and blue in the US), you get a little dot with the color. Given that the map is generally quite small on the screen, as it takes up maybe a third on the left, with the TV host in the top right, flashing numbers in garish info=garbage graphics, and then the crawling ticket, it is hard to take it all in.
-- the analysis seemed okay, better than the coverage during the campaign I thought.

In terms of the outcome, Congress seems quite strong, which should allow for more forward movement. My hope: serious education reform.