NEW DELHI: As the battle lines for the Lok Sabha elections have been drawn with the announcement of the 7-phase polls, the BJP is learnt to have suggested its NDA allies take on the Opposition on corruption, nepotism, dynastic and appeasement politics.
“A public movement needs to be raised against corruption being encouraged by the Opposition. Equally strongly, we must make the people aware as to how the Opposition has been misleading the people by wrongly trusting their leaders for decades. We should expose them on issues that plagued the country’s economy and governance for a long time,” remarked a senior BJP leader.
He said the Modi government’s performance in the past 10 years has reflected a vision to make India ‘Viksit-Bharat’ by 2047. Party sources said the track record of good governance coupled with records of performances in all sectors would be the USP for NDA in seeking the third term with more than 400 seats.
As the NDA mascot, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on X, “The biggest festival of democracy is here! EC has announced the 2024 Lok Sabha election dates. We, the BJP-led NDA, are fully prepared. We are going to the people based on our track record of good governance and service delivery across sectors.”
In another post, Modi spoke about a roadmap for the future of the country. “I can see that the coming five years will be about our collective resolve of establishing the road map that will guide our trajectory as a nation for the next thousand years and make India the embodiment of global leadership”.
Expecting the youth, women and the poor to support him for the third term, Modi said he derived strength from people’s blessings, including women, youth and farmers.
“When they say ‘mai Modi ka parivar’ it fills me with joy and makes me work harder to build a Viksit-Bharat. This is the era to make it happen and together we will – ye hi samay hai, sahi samay hai (this is the right time),” Modi wrote.
In a swipe at the Opposition, Modi termed it “rudderless and issueless.” “All they can do is abuse us and practise vote-bank politics. Their dynastic approach and attempts to divide society are not being accepted. Equally hurting them is their corruption track record. People don’t want such a leadership,” Modi said.
Meanwhile, BJP’s principal poll strategist Amit Shah said: “ PM Modi has demonstrated a fierce commitment to development by ending the politics of dynasty, corruption, appeasement from the country’s political system and focusing on the development of all sections.”
The BJP is working hard to make its presence felt well in South India. In recent times, the PM has travelled across southern states more than 20 times.
‘Tech ready, time not ripe’
A technology to link several EVMs and hide booth-wise voting patterns is ready with the Election Commission but the time to implement the idea has not come yet, CEC Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday. The totalizer is a technology to link several polling machines and combine the results. “But here, people do not have faith in the result of one machine,” Kumar said.
Bypolls for 26 constituencies
By-elections to 26 assembly seats across 13 states, including six constituencies in Himachal Pradesh where Congress MLAs were disqualified for rebellion, will be held along with the Lok Sabha elections beginning April 19. “By-elections will be held in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference.
BJP SCOREBOARD & PROMISES
Last 10 years’ performances
Ram temple construction
Implementation of CAA
Women’s Reservation Act
6 flagship schemes including Ujjwala Yojana, Kisan Samman Nidhi, PM Awas Yojana, Vande Bharat trains, Chandrayan-III launch, New Parliament construction
Vision ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047
Promise to make India the world’s third-largest economy in 5 years
SALVOS AT OPPN
Dynastic politics
Appeasement politics
Opposition leaders in corruption cases
Opposition boycott of Ram temple consecration
Anti-Sanatan Dharma remarks
CONGRESS PROMISES
‘Nari Nyay’ guarantees for women
‘Pehli Naukri Pakki’ for youths
‘Share of Justice’ guarantees Dalits, tribals, minorities and weaker sections
‘Labour Justice’ guarantees for workers
‘Kisan Nyay’ guarantees for farmers
Nationwide caste census
Fight against hatred
SHOTS AGAINST GOVT
Electoral bonds row
EVM-VVPATs mismatch
Rising inflation
Rising unemployment
Glitches in the Agniveer scheme
Farmers’ unrest
Second longest
The voting period for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, spread over 44 days, is the second longest after the first general elections of 1951-52 which lasted more than four months. The shortest voting was in 1980, just four days.
Busting fake news
The EC will use a two-pronged strategy to deal with misinformation and fake narratives on social media during the Lok Sabha polls. It will soon launch a ‘Myth vs Reality’ project to clear the air around fake news online.
United stance
Here’s a look at the alliances stitched by the ruling and opposition parties across states this time:
INDIA Bloc
Uttar Pradesh (Congress +Samjawadi party (SP)
Maharashtra MVA (Congress + Shiv Sena (UBT) +NCP)
Bihar (Congress + RJD+ CPM+CPI)
Delhi (Congress +AAP)
Madhya Pradesh (Congress +SP)
Gujarat (Congress +AAP)
Tamil Nadu (DMK+ Congress +CPM+CPI)
Goa (Congress +AAP)
Jharkhand ( Congress +JMM)
NDA
Bihar ( BJP + JDU +LJP)
Maharashtra ( BJP+NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) +Shiv Sena ( Shinde)
Andhra Pradesh ( BJP+TDP+JSP
Odisha (BJP +BJD)
