New Delhi: After two rounds of polling registering a significant drop in voter’s turnout, the third phase of 2024 general elections today (May 7) is likely to see the trend improving, even if by a bit, especially now that all political parties have urged voters to turn up at the booths.
The electoral battle will also likely intensify seeing that voters’ lack of interest has energised both the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, that is seeking a third term, and the Congress-led opposition, which appears to be getting its mojo back.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
An interesting choice of candidates fielded by the INDIA bloc in many constituencies is aimed at upsetting the BJP’s calculations. On the other hand, the BJP itself has junked its “abki baar 400 paar [this time, beyond 400]” slogan towards a “har dil mein Modi [Modi in every heart]” campaign. Clearly, the BJP has sensed some unrest among its critics and complacency among its supporters, while the Congress-led opposition has looked to make the most out of this widespread contempt, even among the saffron party’s sympathisers, towards the BJP’s attempts to project the electoral outcome as predetermined in its favour.
In 2019, BJP had won 72 of these seats going to polls today while Congress had won just five. Eight seats each went to BJP allies and Congress allies.
With so many questions surrounding the Election Commission’s autonomy and the sanctity of the Electronic Voting Machine, the “400 paar” slogan seems distasteful to many at a time when voters generally feel powerful enough to elect candidates of choice. The BJP’s decision to repeat most of its sitting MPs in the electoral fray, and in the process neglecting voters’ apathy towards many of them, can blow up into a problem of epic proportions for the ruling party – given how the first two rounds saw people discussing regional, local concerns much more animatedly than the BJP would have ideally liked. The local concerns appear to be burying the “Modi magic” and some of the big achievements and promises like viksit bharat or Ram Temple in Ayodhya or Article 370 that BJP has made.
The third round of voting will also be held against a backdrop of the Prime Minister leading the saffron pack in stereotyping Muslim Indians as “those who have more children” and in fact pulling the community into a communal abyss by pitching them against other marginalised groups like Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs. The third round will also be held against a scenario where the BJP has been running a shrill campaign to label the principal opposition party the Congress as a decidedly “pro-Muslim” party – albeit without any evidence or fact to back the audacious claim. The saffron party has turned the idea of affirmative action upside down by terming all criticisms of growing inequality in India as a presumptuous advocacy for “wealth redistribution from the Hindus to Muslims”.
Ninety three constituencies across nine states and three Union territories – Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Dadra and Nagar Haveli/Daman and Diu, Jammu and Kashmir – will vote on May 7. Gujarat will have a one-phase election, while this phase will also mark second and last for Karnataka. West Bengal will also see a tight fight between the Congress, Trinamool Congress, and the BJP in four constituencies which are traditionally seen as Congress bastions. There are no elections in Surat where the BJP candidate was elected unopposed after the Congress candidate’s nomination was rejected and all other candidates withdrew.
Three former chief ministers are in the fray, too.
Among the key candidates who are in the fray are:
Supriya Sule in Baramati (Maharashtra), where she will take on her sister-in-law and cousin Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar, in what is seen as a battle within the Pawar family.
Amit Shah in Gandhi Nagar (Gujarat) will be seeking his third term.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the former four-time BJP chief minister, will be contesting a Lok Sabha election for the first time since 2004.
Basavaraj Bommai, the former BJP chief minister of Karnataka, will look to enter the Lok Sabha from his stronghold Haveri.
Dimple Yadav of Samajwadi Party will be testing her luck for the second time in party stronghold Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh.
Purushottam Rupala, the BJP stalwart and former state unit president, is taking on Congress’s popular face in Gujarat, Paresh Dhanani in Rajkot. Rupala’s candidacy was fiercely opposed by a large section of Rajput caste members, considered to be traditional saffron party supporters, after his remarks recalling the Rajput-British alliance became controversial.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, the civil aviation minister, will contest again from his home seat Guna but on a BJP ticket. He lost the seat as the Congress candidate in 2019.
Narayan Rane, the former Shiv Sena chief minister, is contesting against his former party mate Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Vinayak Raut in the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat.
Digvijaya Singh, the veteran Congress leader, is in the Lok Sabha fray from his former estate Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh.
Prahlad Joshi, union minister of Parliamentary Affairs, is seeking his fifth term in Dharwad constituency in north Karnataka.
