Whenever elections come around those who can predict the results and also claim to influence them have a field day. This election in Karnataka alone there have been estimates that about a billion rupees have been spent on propitiating various types of gods and such spirits to influence the victories of the candidates. This being the state of affairs we feel that we could put forward a challenge to such people to predict the results of the Lok Sabha Elections, 2009 and earn a million rupees. This is not the first time that we have given such an opportunity to people who have such powers, we have been doing that since nearly two decades whenever elections come around.

Subject to the conditions laid down which are stated at the end of this handout, we invite all those who have the powers of prediction by any means supernatural or otherwise to answer the following questions pertaining to the Lok Sabha elections,2009 and earn one million rupees only. It may be noted that many of the astrologers had wanted to know the timing of filing of nominations, the dates of polling, dates of counting etc. to be able to foretell the results properly. We are giving them all these opportunities to enable them to make their predictions accurately. However, the entries should be received by the last date specified herein. All entries are to be sent to this address:

Narendra Nayak
13-9-1220/2, Vithoba Temple Road, Mangalore-575 001

Questions:

1. Who will be the next prime minister of India?
2. Which party, combination of parties will come to power? The name of the single party should be clearly specified. If a combination of Parties is mentioned each one should be named.
3. How many seats will each of the parties win? The answers should be in units- Ranges are not acceptable- correct to the nearest unit in case of single digit and ±10% if the number is more than single digit.
   a. Indian National Congress
   b. Bharathiya Janatha Party
   c. Communist party of India(Marxist)
   d. Communist party of India
   e. Samajwadi party
   d. Rashtriya Janatha Dal
   e. Janatha Dal (secular)
   f. Janatha Dal United
   g. Dravida Munnetra Kalagham
   h. All India Dravida Munnetra Kalagham
   i. Trinamool Congress
   j. Bahujan Samjawadi Party
   k. Bharathiya Samajwadi Party.
4. The votes polled by each of the candidates to the nearest ten thousand ±10% error (To be specified- range is not acceptable-):
   a. Sonia Gandhi at Rae Bareily
   b. Shashi Tharoor at Trivandrum
   c. Varun Gandhi at Pilhibit
   d. J.P.Hegde at Udupi- Chikmaglur
   e. S.Bangarappat Shimoga
   f. B.Y.Raghavendra at Shimoga
   g. Sheena Rai at Kasargod.
   h. George Fernandes at Muzaffapur
   i. Lal Krishna Advani at Gandhi nagar.
   J. Janardhan Poojary at Mangalore.
   k. Murali Manohar Joshi at Varanasi

Terms and conditions:

1. Entries are to be sent in English or Kannada or Hindi.
2. One person is eligible to only one entry.
3. Entries are to be sent by post or courier only. Entries in any other form shall not be accepted.
4. The prize money of one million rupees will be awarded only to that person/s whose predictions shall be within 80% limits of error. That is out of the twenty five answers a minimum of 20 shall be right. If more than one person gets the highest number of right answers, the award money shall be equally divided among them.
5. All questions shall be compulsorily answered.
6. Each right answer shall carry one mark. No marks will be deducted for wrong answers, not attempted questions.
7. For any answer to be considered as right, it should be within the specifications mentioned in the question.
8. As already mentioned above the minimum level of marks obtained shall be 20 out of 25 for any one to be eligible for the award.
9. The decision of the President shall be final in deciding the awardees.
10. Only those entries that be received by the 16th of May, 2009 shall be eligible to be considered for the award. No responsibility will be accepted for any delays in post or any other reason.