Washington: All eyes in India are, not surprisingly, focused on the outcome of the general elections of the 16th Lok Sabha, expected later this week.

But in the US, elections usually refers to what is called the ‘midterm’ poll the one that takes place between the presidential elections, but which can be equally portentous because this involves the election to the entire lower House of Representatives which has a two-year term, some 33 members of the upper House, the Senate and some 36 of the 50 governors of various states.