By Sarwar Kashani
New Delhi, May 24 (EFE).- India’s lengthy electoral process is nearing its end, with the capital region among 58 parliamentary seats set to vote in the penultimate phase on Saturday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aims to replicate its near clean sweep from the last general elections in these constituencies, spread across eight regions, including all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi, India’s political power center.
The Hindu nationalist BJP has maintained a strong grip on the national capital, winning all Delhi constituencies in the 2019 parliamentary elections.
In contrast, in the last general elections, the opposition Indian National Congress (INC), historically led by the Nehru-Gandhi family, failed to win any of the 58 seats up for grabs on Saturday.
However, the ruling party may face a challenge this time from a coalition of 28 opposition parties led by the Congress party, which has put up joint candidates.
In Delhi, the Congress party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are supporting each other’s candidates, campaigning together to attract the nearly 15 million voters of diverse backgrounds, including from upscale neighborhoods and underdeveloped slums.
Interestingly, the AAP won landslide victories in Delhi’s regional elections in 2015 and 2020. However, the party has never won a national parliamentary seat from Delhi.
Delhi’s Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, an anti-corruption activist-turned-politician, is highly popular among the city’s poor.
His government has implemented popular welfare schemes, improving government-run schools and public healthcare, providing free electricity and water to the poor, and offering free bus rides for women.
Despite his popularity, Kejriwal faces corruption charges related to Delhi’s liquor policy, currently under probe by a federal investigative agency for financial crimes.
The chief minister, who was arrested in March and granted temporary bail this month until June 2, has denied the allegations, calling them a BJP-led witch-hunt.
Delhi’s neighboring state of Haryana, another BJP stronghold with all 10 constituencies under its control, is also set for polls in the sixth phase.
Modi is widely considered the frontrunner to win the elections and secure a third consecutive term.
The BJP has run a high-pitched campaign, accusing the opposition of planning to redistribute the nation’s wealth to Muslims, who make up nearly 15 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people.
The Congress party has denied the allegations, accusing the BJP of promoting divisive politics.
While the BJP’s anti-Muslim rhetoric has resonated with its voters in the past, it remains uncertain if this sentiment alone can seal another electoral victory amid rising unemployment and inflation.
Political activist Yogendra Yadav told EFE that the polling trends in the five phases showed that the BJP and its coalition, the National Democratic Alliance, would suffer significant electoral losses.
“The BJP is coming down. How much, I cannot say. But it cannot repeat its 2019 performance. The BJP Is definitely below 272,” Yadav said.
He suggested that the BJP might cross the halfway 272 mark with the help of its pre-poll alliance partners.
“Issues like unemployment and inflation are on the minds of voters. Let’s not forget that.”
The staggered election will continue until June 1, with nearly 970 million eligible voters electing 543 members to the lower house of Parliament for five years in the world’s biggest elections.
The votes will be counted and results declared on June 4. EFE
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