KUALA LUMPUR: The world’s largest democracy — India — will go to the polls starting Thursday, pitting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) against Rahul Gandhi’s Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for the 17th Lok Sabha (Lower House of India’s bicameral parliament) election.
Some 900 million eligible voters, including 84 million first-time voters, will exercise their democratic rights to choose 543 members of parliaments (MPs).
Two additional MPs, coming from the Anglo-Indian community, will be nominated by the President of India as per the constitution.
In comparison, there are 222 parliament seats in Malaysia, a country of some 32.3 million people.
The voting process for the 2019 Indian general election (GE), which will be conducted in seven phases, will take about six weeks till May 19. The counting of the ballots and the release of the results will take place on May 23.
There will be more than one million polling stations throughout the vast country, where logistical problems are common and conducting the election is a mammoth task. Voters in the state of Uttar Pradesh play a crucial role in deciding which party comes to power in the GE as the state has the largest number of seats (80 seats).
The states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will have the legislative assembly elections simultaneously with the GE.
In India, elections are held every five years unless parliament is dissolved earlier.
The voting age is 18 years old in India and 21 years old in Malaysia. However, the Malaysian government will be tabling a bill at the next parliamentary meeting to amend the constitution in order to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.
In the 2014 election, the BJP stormed to power after it solely won 282 seats, the first time a political party in India obtained an absolute majority since 1984. Congress only managed 44 seats, which was its worst showing in history.
Modi, 68, the front runner in the 2019 election and running for a second five-year term, is defending his Varanasi constituency seat.
Rahul, 48, will be contesting in two seats, which are his traditional family stronghold seat of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, and Wayanad in the Southern state of Kerala. Indian law allows a person to contest a maximum of two seats, but the candidate must vacate one in the event he wins both seats.
Rahul is the son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the grandson of the country’s first female leader, Indira Gandhi. His great-grandfather was India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
India, which had its first parliamentary election from Oct 1951-Feb 1952, after its independence in 1947, witnessed the first non-Congress Prime Minister in 1977 following the defeat of the Congress Party that year.
In contrast, the opposition party in Malaysia managed to break the dominance of the ruling party —which was in power since the country’s independence in 1957— only after 61 years, in the May 2018 general election.
Hot issues in the Indian GE campaign include unemployment, national security, peasants’ and farmers’ grievances due to low crop prices, economic mismanagement, corruption, 2016 demonetisation, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced in July 2017, and the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill.
The February 2019 Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 40 Indian soldiers and India’s subsequent airstrike on Pakistan, top the national security issues.
Modi and his government have been accused of failing to fulfill promises made to create millions of jobs while the BJP leader has accused Congress, a 133-year party, weak in confronting national security issues. Media reports said that the national unemployment rate had reached a 45-year high in 2017.
Analysts said Modi’s tough stance as the leader of the nuclear-armed country, in his response to the Pulwama terror attack, had increased his popularity among voters.
On the other hand, Congress is banking on populist agenda in its manifesto which focuses on job creation and tackling unemployment, as well as a guaranteed basic income scheme of 72,000 Indian Rupee annually to 50 million poor families in India, world’s second most populous nation and world’s sixth largest economy.
The Congress’ manifesto is titled “Hum Nibhayenge” (we will deliver), while BJP’s manifesto is called “Sankalp Patra” (vision document), which outline 75 goals the party hopes to achieve by 2022.
BJP’s manifesto focuses on farmer welfare, national security, terrorism and border security, and the commitment to abrogate Article 370 which grants special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir
Besides that, BJP also promises a zero-interest loan to farmers for up to 100,000 Indian rupees, and pension scheme to marginal and small farmers as well as small shop owners.
At the launching of its manifesto recently, Modi has stressed that nationalism is BJP’s inspiration, inclusion its philosophy, and good governance its mantra.
Most opinion polls suggest that BJP and its allies may win more seats than its rival Congress and its allies and others, but with a reduced majority compared to 2014 election. A contesting party or alliance needs to win at least 272 seats to take power and form the next government.
The 2014 election saw a voter turnout of more than 66 per cent and there were 464 parties contesting in the last election. In 2014 election, BJP and its allies won 336 seats, Congress and allies got 60 seats, and others with 147 seats.
In this election, smaller and regional parties are generally expected to play a crucial role in deciding which party will form the next government.
Indian elections have never been short of film stars and those linked to the entertainment industry. In the Southern state of Tamil Nadu, well-known star Kamal Haasan’s recently formed party Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MNM) has fielded its candidates, although he himself is not contesting.
However, another famous superstar — Rajinikanth — who officially announced his entry into politics in December 2017, has declared that he will not be contesting in the parliament election, nor will he support any political parties.
Meanwhile, India’s High Commissioner to Malaysia Mridul Kumar said that Indian expatriates in Malaysia need to register online before they cast their votes in India.
There are about 200,000 Indian expatriates living in Malaysia. – Bernama
