SC to look into Kejriwal’s plea against arrest ‘immediately’ Jobs, inflation key issues in LS polls, finds survey

Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis are most concerned about these issues; nearly two-thirds of those surveyed (62%) across localities expressed that getting work has become increasingly difficult

Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Wednesday agreed to “immediately look at” the email sent by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s lawyers for an urgent hearing of his petition seeking quashing of his arrest in a Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case.

The Chief Minister’s lawyers said the petition would now “most likely” be listed for hearing on Monday (April 15). April 11 and April 12 are court holidays.

Mr. Kejriwal appealed to the Supreme Court a day after the Delhi High Court refused to quash his arrest in the case. Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi and Shadan Farasat, appearing for Mr. Kejriwal, made the oral mentioning before the Chief Justice.

Unemployment and price rise are the key concerns of nearly half the electorate, the CSDS-Lokniti pre-poll survey in the run-up to the 2024 general elections revealed. This was a significant finding in the first part of a series of articles on the pre-poll survey.

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed (62%) across localities, with the highest among cities (65%), expressed that getting jobs had become more difficult. The numbers for those living in villages and towns were 62% and 59%, respectively; 65% of the men shared this opinion compared with 59% of the women. Only 12% said getting jobs had become easier.

The concern was highest among Muslims with 67% saying that getting jobs had become difficult, a number closely matched by Hindus from Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes (63% each) and Scheduled Tribes (59%). The opinion that jobs were easier to get was shared the highest among Hindu upper castes (17%), even as 57% of them felt otherwise.

The opinions on price rise mirrored that of unemployment with a whopping 71% saying that prices have increased, with the number increasing to 76% among the poor, 76% and 75% among Muslims and Scheduled Castes.

While the numbers on these two issues indicate that prospective voters were worried about the state of the economy, the survey also revealed that a near-equal number believed that State governments were responsible for shrinking job opportunities. About 48% indicated that their quality of life was much or somewhat better.

Notwithstanding these concerns, nearly half of those surveyed said development in the last five years has been inclusive.