ELECTIONS BEGIN

Along with the elections to the Lok Sabha, assembly elections will be held in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Arunachal Pradesh. In terms of span, this will be the longest general elections since India’s maiden Lok Sabha polls that lasted four months – from October 1951 to February 1952.

“The Election Commission of India has made all preparations to welcome voters to the biggest festival of democracy that any nation has witnessed, the elections to the 18th Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies in four states that start off with Phase 1,” the statement said.

The elections will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi seek a third consecutive term, which will make him only the second person in independent India after Jawaharlal Nehru to achieve the feat. Throughout this frenetic poll campaign, leaders of both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have pitched narratives that bridge deep and complex divisions of caste, class, religion and region. In the last general elections in 2019, the BJP rode on a wave of Modi’s pan-Indian popularity and nationalistic fervour to a once-in-a-generation majority. The party won 303 seats, and along with its allies comprising the NDA captured 336 seats in the 543-member Lower House. The Congress, saddled by the weight of past corruption and the lack of a charismatic leader, was reduced to 52 seats.

This time, the BJP has set a target of 370 seats and 400 for the NDA on the back of welfare politics, development, and the Hindutva plank. Former allies have returned to the NDA ahead of the polls, as the BJP looks to defend its fortress in northern India and make inroads in eastern and southern India.

The INDIA bloc hopes to cut into the BJP’s electoral track record and broad social coalition, keep its southern citadel intact and stave off the BJP’s raids into western and eastern India.