The second phase: A Hindi belt slump?

The second phase of the General Elections took place on Friday and 88 constituencies went to poll across Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra. As with the first phase, the turnout was lower than expected. 

Speaking to The Indian Express, senior officers of the EC pointed that sluggish voting in mainly three states —Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — was what pulled the overall polling numbers down. Till Friday night, Maharashtra registered a turnout of 59.6%, Bihar 57% and Uttar Pradesh 54.8%, as opposed to 63%, 63% and 62%, respectively, in 2019.

OTOH, Karnataka had a decent turnout of 68.38%--although the numbers in Bangalore were shamefully low. The big exception is in the Hindi belt—Rajasthan, where 64.07% voters turned out to vote. (Indian Express)

A big ruling on EVMs

First, what are VVPATs: The Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails or VVPAT machine is attached to the electronic voting machines (EVM). It basically prints out a slip that indicates the voter’s choice after the vote is cast. The printed slip is only visible for seven seconds before it falls into a compartment in the machine. These slips are later used to verify the votes that are cast. Polling officials randomly select five polling booths to carry out the verification.

The case: Last year, the think tank Association for Democratic Reforms filed a petition before the Supreme Court noting that verifying the VVPAT slips from just five random polling booths was not enough to ensure free and fair elections. They demanded that all of these slips should be verified with EVM votes for a more credible election process. They highlighted past instances when there was a difference between the votes polled and those reflected in the VVPATs.

What did the court say: On Friday, the Supreme Court quashed all these petitions that called for a tally of all VVPAT slips. They also rejected a return to the earlier paper ballot system for elections. The SC bench, however, did indicate that the EC could improve its post-poll procedure. 

One suggestion which can be examined by the Election Commission of India would be whether there can be electronic machines for counting paper slips and whether there can be a bar code along with the symbols as regards which party.

Another suggestion made by the top court was that the candidates who come second and third in a constituency can ask for a verification of the EVMs. Indian Express looks at what changed with this judgement.

Speaking of these EVMs: The News Minute revealed an extraordinary conflict of interest within the Election Commission. The commission appoints an independent Technical Expert Committee (TEC) that assesses the reliability of the electronic voting system in our country. Turns out, all four members of the committee are ‘inventors’ of the voting system.

BJP finally gets served

The context: Last week, in an election rally, Prime Minister Modi said that the Congress plans to redistribute wealth “among those who have a large number of children… and among the intruders.”  When opposition parties approached the Election Commission, it said: “We decline to comment.” This fueled concerns that the EC has been fatally compromised by a new selection process—which gives the government total control (Explained in the Big Story).

What happened now: The EC has finally issued a notice to BJP President JP Nadda—seeking a response from him to complaints that the PM violated the Model Code of Conduct.  What’s interesting: the notice did not name Modi but (very) politely flagged the allegations against him. 

Star Campaigners are expected to contribute to a higher quality of discourse by way of providing an all-India perspective, which sometimes gets distorted in the heat of the contests at the local level. Thus, the expectation from Star Campaigners is to provide corrective action or a sort of healing touch, when intensity of local campaign disrupts or inadvertently crosses over such boundaries.

Key point to note: A similar notice was also sent to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge—on alleged code violations committed by Rahul Gandhi. The BJP has accused him of making “malafide and utterly sinister allegations against Modi” during a speech in Coimbatore. 

Why this is interesting: This is the first time the commission has chosen to send notices to party presidents—and not directly to the candidates. No one knows why they did it differently–—though it may have something to do with the BJP’s somewhat scary rep on all Modi-related matters. (The Hindu)

Muslims, Muslims everywhere

The Prime Minister seems to be on a roll these days. Two days after his speech targeting so-called “intruders”, he said Congress tried to create a separate reservation quota for “their special vote bank”, by cutting into the quota for Dalits and backward classes on Tuesday.

But here’s the interesting bit. Modi was also recently in Aligarh taking credit for championing Muslim women. He said, “The government took an important decision by allowing Muslim women to go for the Haj without a male companion. I am getting blessings of hundreds of such women.” So no intruders here, then. 

Point to note: The NDA has lost its only Muslim MP. Choudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser left BJP ally Lok Janshakti Party to join the Rashtriya Janata Dal. No more intruders in the NDA, either. (Indian Express)

A pre-poll victory in Surat

BJP leader Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed to the Lok Sabha seat in Surat. The nomination papers of his Congress opponent were rejected on Sunday. Then on Monday, the other candidates in fray—four Independents, a BSP leader, and three others from smaller parties—withdrew their nominations. The opposition accused the BJP of coercing the candidates into withdrawing their nominations. Scroll looks at the various reasons given by the candidates for exiting the competition—which range from a candidate who received a call from the BJP to one who “went into depression.” (The Hindu)

A primetime analysis 

The News Minute looked at 429 segments on primetime shows hosted by six anchors on six channels—between February 1 and April 12. The results were unsurprising: 52% focused on negative coverage of the Opposition—and 27% praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. Only 1.4% raised questions about issues such as jobs and inflation. FYI: According to the latest V-Dem report, we are ranked at #161 on the press freedom index. The News Minute piece has way more details.

You’re such a SWEETEY

Here’s a more upbeat election story—about a dragonfly named Sweetey. It is the election mascot for Wayanad—which is also Rahul Gandhi’s seat. Sweetey belongs to a dragonfly species called Epithemis Wayanadensis—or the less tongue-twisting Red-rumped Hawklet. It was discovered in Wayanad back in 2022—hence the name. 

And Sweetey is spelled S-W-E-E-T-E-Y—for Spreading Wayanad’s Election Enthusiasm through Epithemis Wayanadensis. Her job is to encourage people to vote. In case you think this is strange, appointing odd election mascots isn’t unusual. This year, the South  24 Parganas district in West Bengal has Tiger ‘Baghu’—while Coochbehar’s election ambassador is a turtle.

FWIW, Wayanad’s mascot in the 2021 Assembly elections was a robot called Vote Kunjappan—inspired by the Malayalam film, Android Kunjappan. So the dragonfly is a step up—as you can see below. (The Hindu)

A list of good reads

One: Our Big Story on BJP's dipping fortunes in the key state of Maharashtra.

Two: Sadanand Dhume in Wall Street Journal (splainer gift link) explores why the issue of corruption has practically disappeared from discourse this election season.

Three: Al Jazeera has a feature on Indian expats in the Gulf whose votes are being wooed by different political parties. 

Four: The Diplomat (login required) has a report on how political parties are using artificial intelligence to reach out to the public—and to also malign their rivals. 

Five: Samar Halarnkar in Scroll argues that one reason for so much bigotry in these elections is because it is accepted by “Hindu India.”