The mainstream media seem to be peddling the notion that the Indian votes have returned to the BN. Several political pundits and analysts also supported this notion even before polling and after polling.

Let's study the general elections results on a state by state basis to ascertain if indeed Indians have returned to support the BN.

In Selangor, Pakatan maintained its hold on this richest state with a bigger seat majority. This bigger majority and popular vote could have come only from support from all three races, not just the Chinese voters alone.

In many Parliament seats with high Indian populations like Kota Raja, Kapar, Klang and Shah Alam and state seats like Seri Andalas, Kota Alam Shah and Sementa were all won by Pakatan with comfortable majorities.

P Kamalanathan of MIC is the only one to win in Hulu Selangor.

In Perak the same trend can be observed. In Buntong, the state seat with the largest number of Indian voters was won by DAP.

Indian votes would have helped Dr Micheal Jeyakumar of PSM, M Kulasegaran (DAP) and V Sivakumar (DAP) to win their respective Sg Siput, Ipoh Barat and Batu Gajah Parliament seats.

M Saravanan of MIC won in Tapah - the only Indian from BN.

In Penang, Prof Ramasamy of the DAP won in Prai while Kasturi Rani Patto won in the Batu Kawan Parliament seat, with both of them defeating BN Indian candidates.

Indian votes would certainly have helped the multi-racial DAP candidates like Chow Kon Yeow, Zairil Khir Johari, Karpal Singh, A Tanasekharan and RSN Rayer to attain wins and bigger majorities in seats throughout Penang.

In Kedah, prominent human rights lawyer N Surendran won the Padang Serai Parliament seat, which has a significant Indian voter base.

It must be noted that MIC also lost in Bukit Selambau and Lunas state seats to their Pakatan counterparts. Both have significant Indian voters.

In Pahang, Pakatan managed to wrest the Sabai state seat which has been a MIC traditional seat. MIC president G Palanivel won the Cameron Highlands Parliament seat.

In Negri Sembilan, MIC failed in its bid to win the Teluk Kemang Parliament seat but was victorious in the state seat of Jeram Padang.

In Johor, MIC's Dr S Subramaniam retained the Segamat Parliament seat.

There are more Indian MPs and assemblypersons in Pakatan, who won with support of all races including the Indians.

It can be concluded that at least two-thirds of Indian voters voted for Pakatan.