Deep Blue Sea and the Hard Rock

Some days after the elections, I asked Pappa if my uncle, his younger brother, had campaigned for his MP this time. My uncle is a small-time politician and an ardent supporter of the MP. Pappa said hardly. I asked why. It seems the first thing was that the MP had done next to nothing in the last five years so my uncle wasn't keen to be abused asking to vote for him again. But the second thing was also that his main opponent was worse. He had got the ticket only because there was a tussle between two other local leaders to get the ticket for their respective children and the party wanted to avoid the headache. I thought my uncle had been wise. His MP won with an unprecedented margin.

I wonder how many seats across the country would've had a similar story. Sorry state of affairs for the voters and also failure of the political parties to capitalize on an opportunity.