India Elections: Justice Markandey Katju says fingers crossed till June 4

Justice Markandey Katju

By Justice Markandey Katju–

(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own)

The Indian election, the world’s largest democratic exercise, began on Friday, April 19. A record 968 million registered voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the seven-phase general elections that will culminate on June 1, with the results on June 4.

In all, 102 seats spread over 21 states go to the polls today, marking the beginning of an election which will have an impact on India’s future. By this evening, most of the parties will have a fair idea of which way the wind is blowing, allowing them to adjust their campaigns for the remaining six phases.

Both the BJP and the main opposition party, the Congress, have issued their manifestos. I have already commented on the Congress manifesto, saying it makes all kind of tall promises that are unlikely to be met, and the same comment can be made about the BJP manifesto.

The BJP Manifesto, called ‘Modi ki Guarantee‘ (Modi’s Guarantee) seeks to scale up existing schemes, ensuring that they reach everyone, and promises a Uniform Civil Code and the ‘One Nation, One Election’ law. The Congress manifesto has 25 guarantees that promise employment, cash transfers, and increased wages.

The first phase will decide the future of some of the high-profile candidates, including Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Bhupendra Yadav, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai, Nakul Nath, former Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Sarbananda Sonowal, Sanjeev Balyan, Jitin Prasada, and Gaurav Gogoi.

Uttar Pradesh sends the most number of lawmakers to the Lok Sabha — 80 of the 543 parliamentary seats are from this state. The main contest here is between the BJP, SP, and the BSP. The seats that will go to polls in the state are Saharanpur, Moradabad, Kairana, Rampur, Bijnor Muzaffarnagar, Pilibhit and Nagina. These seats are spread across nine districts. The BJP’s tie-up with Jayant Chaudhary-led RLP will be tested in the region which has a lot of farmers and Jat voters.

In the 2019 polls, the UPA had won more seats than the NDA from the 102 constituencies that vote today. Among these 102 seats are all the seats in Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Mizoram, Sikkim, Nagaland and Lakshadweep. Some seats in UP, Bihar and West Bengal will also go to the polls today.

Earlier, the BJP was confident of not only winning, but of increasing its 2019 tally. Many BJP leaders had declared that their party will win over 400 seats. Now, the tone has changed. Many people have forecast that the BJP’s seats will considerably reduce, and some have even predicted it may lose.

Parakala Prabhakar, an eminent economist, and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s husband, has said that Modi’s government has been a total failure, and his return to power will be a disaster.

We will have to keep our fingers crossed, and wait till June 4.

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