Polling for the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha begins tomorrow Saturday amid controversy over India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi being an ‘incarnation of God’. In this phase, polling will be held in a total of 58 constituencies in six full states and two Union Territories. This round of polls is crucial for the ruling BJP and its allies. In 2019, they won 45 of these seats. This time the fight is short. Because, in this round, BJP has very little room to increase its seats, on the contrary, the risk of losing is high.
To prevent that fear from coming true, Narendra Modi has not only claimed to be ‘God’s Messenger’, he has said that God will not accept him if he returns unfulfilled with his resolve to build a ‘Developed India’ by 2047. Hence, his plea to the voters, let the masses give him victory this time too, so that he can quickly make India the third largest economic power.
Opposition leaders are not talking about Modi. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, if Modi is ‘God’, then why did he ask the people to play dishes to prevent the epidemic during Corona? When the corpses were floating in rows in the Ganges, the mountains of corpses were piling up in the hospital, why did he not stop it and asked to turn on the light of the mobile phone? Who is a part of God, why does he work only for 22 millionaires? Modi now wants to say he has the power to die at will, after mocking the opposition – claiming he was sent by God.
Keeping the controversy aside, it is true that BJP has to face a tough test in this phase as well. Last time, out of these 58 seats, BJP did not allow anyone to win a single seat in Haryana (10) and Delhi (7). But in these 17 seats, BJP is in a tough fight. Congress has formed an alliance with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. AAP is contesting in four seats and Congress in three seats. Despite the initial inertia, as time progressed, AAP and Congress stood hand in hand. The situation in Haryana is such that BJP candidates could not campaign in most of the centres. The state’s peasant community and the Jat community have come together to oppose the BJP. Congress-UP alliance has also taken place in this state. Congress is contesting in 9 seats and UP in 1 seat.
In Bihar like Delhi and Haryana, BJP and its allies did not allow the opposition to bite the bullet last time. BJP, JDU and LGP won all the eight constituencies that went to polls yesterday. This time ‘India’ alliance has come down. The same is the case in four constituencies of Jharkhand. Last time, the BJP won three and its partner All Jharkhand Students Union won one. This time, whether the tribal community of the state will punish the BJP for imprisoning Chief Minister Hemant Soren has become the main attraction of the polls.
Among the states that the BJP is focusing on to increase its seats, there are eight seats in West Bengal and six seats in Odisha. Out of those eight seats in West Bengal, BJP won five last time. The remaining three are grassroots. BJP won two out of six seats in Odisha. Trinamool Congress in West Bengal is again embroiled in controversy over Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangh. On the other hand, the BJP in Odisha is in trouble due to the comments made by its spokesperson and Puri constituency candidate Sambit Patra. Sambit said two days ago, Prabhu Jagannath Dev is a devotee of Narendra Modi. While Modi himself claimed to be a part of God, Sambit’s comments did not add much, but the entire state erupted in protest. He announced a three-day fast to deal with the situation and atone. In this climate, it will not be easy for BJP to get additional seats in Odisha.
In Uttar Pradesh, this round of voting is in 14 constituencies. Of these, BJP won 9 last time. Out of the remaining five, BSP won four, SP won one. BSP is not fighting hard this time. If their Dalit votes go to the BJP as before, Modi can expect an increase in seats from this state. But if the Dalit vote goes to the SP-Congress alliance, the ruling party’s worries will increase. Akhilesh Yadav has increased the number of Dalit and backward candidates for that purpose. The propaganda about Dosar Congress is also going on like that.
The fight for Anantnag-Rajouri constituency in Jammu and Kashmir is getting stronger. Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference (NC) won this seat last time. But in the new age the boundaries of this center were reconstructed. Much of Rajouri is inserted into Anantnag. Mehbooba Mufti stands for PDP to give momentum to the NC candidate here. BJP has not fielded a candidate, but they are supporting the candidate of the party created by them. Sajjad Lone’s People’s Conference is also supporting the BJP in the valley. BJP will find land in Bakalme valley if you win the party in NC-PDP contest.
In this situation, the Supreme Court gave a big relief to the Election Commission. A case was filed in the Supreme Court requesting disclosure of all booth-wise polling statistics within 48 hours of polling. After hearing both sides, the Supreme Court decided not to issue any order in this regard on Friday. The division bench of Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said that the five-phase polling has been completed. Only two rounds left. It will be challenging for the commission to comply with any such directive at this time.
The opposition is criticizing the role of the Election Commission in this election. The announcement of an increase in polling after 11 days of polling has alarmed the opposition. The application was made to remove that apprehension. The top leaders of BJP including the Prime Minister have already started saying that the opposition has already started bringing the Election Commission and EVMs to the table knowing that the defeat is certain.