(This is the first part of a two-part series on simultaneous elections.)

In 2012, watching Manmohan Singh struggling with a disorderly coalition, an obstreperous cabinet, and a host of powerful state chief ministers, I wrote that he was the lone prime minister in a nation of presidents. In 2014, on the eve of his election as prime minister, I predicted that Narendra Modi would be more presidential in ambition and action.

That has come to pass. Most of us agree that Modi is the strongest prime minister we have had since Indira Gandhi. Will he equal, and surpass, her concentration of power?