The only assertion that can be made with any degree of confidence about elections in India is that it is the poor voter - and not the upper or middle class one - who makes and breaks governments. Ironically, the urban poor comprise, to a significant extent, villagers who have been impoverished by the pro-urban rich policies of various governments and have migrated to cities in search of livelihood. This phenomenon is not restricted to India: There are many countries in which the production function in the globalised order has transformed peasants into urban workers to such an extent that peasantry as a class has experienced a sharp decline in terms of its numbers and political power.