The fate of India’s important parties and candidates is being decided

Last Updated on April 20, 2024 6:06 am

Voting for the first phase of the seven-phase eighteenth Lok Sabha elections in India began on Friday. There are about 100 crore eligible voters in this election. That’s one in eight of the world’s total population. Voting has started to select which parties and candidates will sit in parliament for the next five years. The current ruling party BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are hoping to come to power for a third consecutive term.

Arvind Kejriwal and some top leaders of his party Aam Aadmi Party are currently in jail in connection with a recent bribery scandal. This casts a shadow of uncertainty on the party’s chances of good results in the elections.

Voters will elect 543 members of parliament in the Lok Sabha elections in India, the world’s most populous country. The seven-phase polling that has been going on for six weeks will end on June 1. The result will be known on June 4.

Let’s know about the important parties and candidates whose fate is going to be decided in this election:

Various opinion polls conducted in the run-up to the elections have shown good results for Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies. Their position is stronger than that of more than 24 opposition parties ‘India’ (Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance) including the Congress. Congress dominated politics for decades until BJP came to power in 2014.

The fate of six well-known national parties will be decided in the election. The parties include the BJP, the Congress, Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Apart from this, there are 58 well-known teams at the state level. Many smaller party candidates are also contesting.

BJP,  Narendra Modi and Amit Shah

BJP, the world’s largest political party, has around 18 crore members. After the formation of the Hindu nationalist party in 1980, they had to burn a lot of wood in politics. After 16 years, the party became the first prime minister in an unstable government that lasted only 13 days.

The BJP formed its first government under Narendra Modi in 2014 with a single majority. Since then, the party has remained firmly in power.

Meanwhile, Narendra Modi (73) was born and raised in a small town in the western Indian state of Gujarat. In his early twenties, he joined the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), the ideological guardian of the BJP. After about a decade and a half, the nationalist party joined the Jan Sangh.

Modi served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for over three terms before leading the BJP to a landslide victory in the 2014 general elections. After being in power for a decade, he has entered the fight for the Prime Ministership for the third time. But his popularity is still intact. The results of various opinion polls suggest that Modi and his party will win easily this time too. Modi is seeking re-election from Varanasi in the populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Amit Shah is a close associate of Prime Minister Modi. Amit Shah is in charge of the Union Home Ministry, which is important for national security. After Modi came to power, Amit became the president of BJP in 2014. He was appointed to the cabinet in 2019 during Modi’s second term.

Amit Shah has been providing important support to Modi to successfully advance his Hindutva agenda. For example, taking away the special status of the Muslim-populated state of Jammu and Kashmir, implementing the controversial Citizenship Act, etc. Critics say that the country’s minority Muslim population will be discriminated against in this law.

Amit Shah wants to be re-elected from Gandhinagar seat in Gujarat.

Congress and Rahul Gandhi

Congress is the oldest party in India. They ruled the country for more than two-thirds of the time after India’s independence in 1947. However, the party has been struggling to survive in politics during Modi’s rule for two decades.

Congress undertook a concerted economic reform program in the country in 1991 under its first and only woman Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. It started the country’s journey to free market economy. But the Congress lost power in 2014 due to the Modi-Dhewa movement and a series of corruption scandals.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is Prime Minister Modi’s staunchest opponent. The party’s star campaigner is Rahul. He never became a minister in the central or state government. He never led the party to victory in the general elections. In 2019, he stepped down from the post of party chief after the Congress’s disastrous defeat in the last parliamentary elections.

But Rahul is still at the center of Indian opposition politics. He is also the prime target of Prime Minister Modi. The predecessors of the family, including his father, ruled the country for more than 37 years.

Rahul (53) is a four-time elected Member of Parliament. He is making strong efforts to maintain the 26-member opposition alliance and build public support for the alliance. As part of the election campaign and on various issues, this Congress leader has led two major marches across the country.

In this election, Rahul is contesting from the Wanad constituency in the southern state of Kerala. Sonia Gandhi, the current matriarch of the Nehru-Gandhi family, has decided not to participate in this election.

Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or Common Persons Party in Indian politics emerged in 2011 from a strong anti-corruption movement. Anna Hazare led the movement with the support of close aide Arvind Kejriwal.

Later Kejriwal formed AAP in 2012. In 2015, his party formed the local government in the capital Delhi. Big parties like BJP and Congress suffered an unprecedented blow in politics. Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal has since become a staunch critic of Modi. AAP is an ally of Congress in the current general elections.

Kejriwal and several top leaders of his party are now arrested and jailed in connection with an alleged bribery scam. This casts a shadow of uncertainty on the party’s chances of good results in the elections.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)

A powerful political force in South India is the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). It is the third largest party in the country in terms of number of seats in the lower house of parliament. The party, an ally of the Congress, is in power in the state of Tamil Nadu. The state has a poverty rate of only 2 percent; Which is one of the lowest poverty rates in entire India. The education rate in the state is also very high.

All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Mamata Banerjee

Trinamool Congress is the fourth largest party in India in terms of number of seats in Parliament. The party is in power in the eastern state of West Bengal. The party was formed about 25 years ago after breaking away from the Congress.

Trinamool founder Mamata has been sitting as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for nearly 13 years. The party is playing the role of a ‘reluctant Congress ally’ in the fight against the BJP in this year’s general elections. They are part of the 26-member opposition coalition. However, the Trinamool failed to come to an agreement on which candidate will contest in which seat in West Bengal.

One of the Trinamool candidates in the election is Mahua Maitra. He is a relentless critic of Prime Minister Modi. Former banker Mahua was expelled from Parliament last year for his alleged involvement in a bribery scandal. The Trinamool leader has claimed that the allegation of taking bribe is exaggerated.