A statement oft repeated by senior BJP leader L K Advani at public meetings is that he has participated - either as a campaigner or as a candidate - in all the 14 general elections held in the country since independence. On Tuesday, Advani turned nostalgic once again.

In that era, there were separate ballot boxes for each candidate. There were no printed ballot papers but slips, which the voter had to insert in the box of the candidate of his choice. The election in a constituency was not held simultaneously. It would be held in four to five booths of a constituency, and a day later, the ballot boxes would be moved to the next five polling booths, and election would be held in that jurisdiction. In other words, elections in a constituency would spread over two to three weeks.

Now, didn’t we hear a lot of resentment from political parties, when the EC announced that the assembly elections would be spread over three phases?