India is all set to elect a new government within two weeks. While the ruling NDA government has made National Security as the key poll issue, the Opposition UPA, led by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress, is banking high on jobs and development promises, naming their campaign as ‘NYAY’. There’s a powerful third front as well, which is united on removing Modi but divided on a number of key issues.
This National Security vs Nyay campaign has witnessed unprecedented lows. The Election Commission of India has been openly accused of being biased in favour of the ruling party. The prime minister himself has unleashed a number of offensives, which included remarks deemed as ‘horse trading’ by many. The fielding of terror accused Sadhvi Pragya, from Bhopal, has also raked up a controversy.
Here Are The Five Most Disturbing Things Of The 2019 Poll
1.‘Biased’ election commission:
After announcing of the model code of conduct ahead of the general elections by Election Commission of India (ECI), BJP launched its own propaganda TV channel ‘Namo TV’. Congress and other opposition parties moved to the poll body against BJP for violation of the code of conduct, but the EC surprisingly didn’t find anything wrong. The BJP in its defence termed NaMo TV as an ‘advertisement platform,’ however, it was amply clear that channel worked like a News platform designed to promote the saffron party’s agenda. The propaganda channel aired PM Modi’s live rallies, highlights on BJP’s achievement and of course, Congress’ failures.
EC is yet to explain, why and how, this was not deemed as a violation of the code of conduct.
Another incident came into light was the controversial cancellation of sacked BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav’s candidature against PM Narendra Modi from Varanasi. Ironically, the EC didn’t point out discrepancies in the election affidavit when Yadav applied independently, the issue came up only after he got a surprise ticket from the Samajwadi Party.
On the other hand, the poll body failed to take action against former HRD minister Smriti Irani who is contesting against Congress president Rahul Gandhi from Amethi on her purported educational degree scam. It must be noted that Smriti Irani stated in her 2014 Lok Sabha Elections affidavit that she completed her degree from the Delhi University in 1994, but this time she didn’t mention the same information. Does it not sound like a joke?
PM Modi was himself accused of violating the code of conduct. However, the prime minister got a clean chit from the poll body six times. The PM was cleared by the EC on his remarks such as, ‘Katalkiraat’, ‘majority in a minority’, ‘Hamareparmanu bomb Diwali ke liye nahi(our nuclear bombs are not for Diwali)and many more. After EC’s ‘ignorance’, Congress approached the Supreme Court against the panel body. The apex court too pulled up EC for not exercising its institution’s power.
2. Terror accused Sadhvi Pragya contesting elections:
Amid rousing chants of nationalism and chest thumping on anti-terror approach, BJP fielded a terror accused person for the parliamentary elections. This is probably the first time in Indian electoral history that a terror accused is contesting the election on a national party’s ticket. By fielding the Sadhvi, BJP and RSS not only tried to promote the narrative that she was framed but also tried to set out a larger message that Hindus can’t be involved in terror activities. Modi himself defended it – by comparing Sadhvi’s bail in terror case to Rahul Gandhi’s bail in a corruption case.
3.PM Modi’s horse trading remark:
In a blatant violation of the model code of conduct, PM Modi openly admitted that West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s 40 MLAs were in touch with him and will desert TMC once the BJP wins the polls on May 23.
This was probably the first time in Indian history when a PM was accused of indulging in horse trading.
4.Jammu & Kashmir boycotts elections:
Centre failed to woo a large number of Jammu and Kashmir’s voters for 2019 polls. Except for North Kashmir, most of the valley’s people have avoided the polls. Firstpost reported that in the first four phases of the parliamentary election, the Kashmir valley has seen from low to moderate voters. According to the report, in four separate phases of elections, the Kashmir Valley witnessed zero per cent polling in 172 booths.
5.Fake News and Social Media influence elections:
Fake news boomed across the social media soon after Pulwama terror attack. Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp came out as the key sources to spread fake news and influence the elections.
With 900 million people eligible to vote, and half of billion having access to the internet, it is enough to assimilate how fake news can enormously impact the elections.
The fact-checking website Alt News ‘s co-founder, Pratik Sinha told the Quartz that approximately 40% higher than normal levels of fake News was shared during elections. However, the irony is both major parties, BJP and Congress, were involved in sharing fake news on social media.