EDITOR'S PAGE

摘要

Few sights can lift a Mumbaikar's spirit these days, especially given the summer heat, as much as the glimpse of a full-bloom Gulmohar from the window of a speeding train, or the spectacle of a road lined with Indian Laburnum. The heat, these days, is also doubled owing to the heated debates amongst fellow citizens in view of the General Elections. The common view, however, is that the elections are based on the basis of performance, not perception. Indian national elections have been the largest electoral exercise in the world ever since the first national elections in 1952. Election campaign optimization problem (ECOP) can be described as finding the best way to allocate a political party's resources among different election locations in order to maximize the seats or member of parliaments (MPs) won. The level of effect of advertising on earning votes or winning elections has been studied extensively in the sense of determining the best advertising strategy or determining the marketing mix. The ruling party is pressed on repeating the performance of the last elections while the opposition put together claim that they will outdo the ruling party owing to their poor performance in the last five years! May the optimum party win and lead the nation to growth and prosperity in the years to come.