Electoral scene

109% वोट, पर्ची मशीन का फूटा भांडा | official claims of turnout exceeding 100%  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wf1OVbRL1c  DESH NEETI  Apr 25, 2024 

SC में भिड़े..

https://indianexpress.com/elections/tripura-lok-sabha-polls-cpim-9284885/ Three days after demanding fresh polling in West Tripura, which voted on April 19, the Opposition CPM has written to the Election Commission of India flagging “official claims” of voter turnouts of more than 100 per cent having been recorded in three Assembly segments in the Lok Sabha constituency.

मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त हाज़िर हों | Where is the Election Commission  Ravish Kumar Official Apr 23, 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJG-s_mTfa4 
क्या इस देश में ऐसी कोई संस्था है जो प्रधानमंत्री को झूठ बोलने और नफ़रती भाषण देने से रोक दे, और तुरंत रोक दे? अगर संस्थाएं खत्म हो चुकी हैं तो क्या जनता बची हुई है जो हाथ जोड़ ले कि बस अब रहने दीजिए, इतना झूठ मत बोलिए, इतनी नफरत मत फैलाइये, दस साल हमने आपको प्रधानमंत्री बनाया है, इसके बाद भी उसी जनता के बीच नफ़रत फैलाने में आपको क्या खुशी मिलती होगी? झूठ बोलने में क्या खुशी मिलती होगी यह तो प्रधानमंत्री ही जानते हैं। मगर एक संस्था है जिससे अब भी उम्मीद है कि वह कार्रवाई करेगी।

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/lok-sabha-elections-voter-turnout-9286009/ 

The voter turnout in Phase 1 of the 18th Lok Sabha Election was at 65.5 per cent, 4 per cent lower than that of 2019. 

Are people unwilling to vote? And if they are, is it due to an inevitable electoral outcome or the toothlessness of electoral instruments to usher in a better life and livelihood? The latter is serious as it raises questions on the effectiveness of electoral democracy for development by delivering public goods and services. 

A relationship between voter turnout and human development would help us reflect on voters’ urge to vote. The Subnational Human Development Index (SHDI) prepared by Global Data Lab represents UNDP’s official Human Development Index (HDI) at the sub-national level. It is an index comprising life expectancy at birth, schooling (average and expected years) and standard of living (per capita Gross National Income). The latest available SHDI of 2021 illustrates that while India’s average value is 0.633, it ranges from 0.571 in Bihar to 0.752 in Kerala.

A comparison of the SHDI in 2021 with the percentage of constituencies having high voter turnout (more than 65 per cent) in the 2019 Lok Sabha election across states shows no relationship. The relationship between the percentage of votes polled in 2014 and the SHDI of 2021 was also very low, showing no long-term impact. It raises a serious question on the effectiveness of electoral democracy in improving people’s welfare in the country.

by Indranil De

23/04/2024

The political scene in Maharashtra has never been so chaotic, as it exists today. Until the 2019 elections, there was a clearly laid out political division. The Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena, along with smaller parties, on the one side, and the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on the other. This traditional combination was disturbed in 2019 when the Mahavikas Aghadi government, comprising Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP was formed. The newly imagined alliance not only formed the government but also ran it smoothly until the BJP disturbed the arrangement by breaking constituent parties into separate factions. https://thewire.in/politics/mergers-splits-and-new-symbols-as-chaos-marks-maharashtra-politics-voters-concerns-take-backseat 

Shiv Sena is now Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray). Similarly, the grand old NCP is now the one led by Ajit Pawar and another by his uncle Sharad Pawar. The split in the parties has also meant that many senior and promising leaders have jumped ships. The Congress party may not have split but many of its senior leaders, including former chief minister Ashok Chavan and former MP Milind Deora, crossed over to the BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde) respectively.

These mergers, splits and breakaways have only made election campaigns more challenging for the candidates on the ground. Now, as candidates set out to campaign in their respective constituencies, they are no longer focussing on the pertinent issues plaguing their region and the state. “It is all about introducing their new party symbols or the new political party they have newly joined,” says Shakil Ansari, a resident of Kalyan parliamentary constituency, currently represented by chief minister Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde.

by Sukanya Shantha

19/04/2024