Coming in April: The great Indian election mela
The big day: is on April 19, 2024. On Saturday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar announced that the elections will be held in seven phases, with the results being announced on June 4. Spread over 44 days, it is the longest voting period since the first general elections in 1951-52.
The CEC cited India’s expansive geography and the logistical challenges of serving 968 million voters across over 1.5 million polling stations as reasons for the lengthy period. Mint has details on the complete schedule.
The Model Code of Conduct: laid down by the Election Commission of India has kicked in. It exists to ensure that campaigns, polling, and counting proceed in an orderly, transparent, and peaceful manner. Additionally, it serves as a mechanism to curb any misuse of state machinery and financial resources by the ruling party.
What this also means: We should brace ourselves for finger-pointing and rule-bending by the government, opposition parties, and local candidates. The MCC does not possess any statutory backing but has been upheld by the Supreme Court on multiple occasions. In general, the Election Commission “uses moral sanction or censure for its enforcement.” However, in 2014, it banned the BJP’s Amit Shah and Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan from campaigning. Indian Express has more on the MCC.
Also: Four state elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim will also be held simultaneously. Jammu and Kashmir’s assembly dates have been put on hold for “security and administrative reasons.” (Hindustan Times)
Behold: The electoral bond hall of fame!
The context: We highly recommend reading our Big Story on electoral bonds. Suffice to say, the bonds allowed companies and individuals to make secret donations to parties—which violated our constitutional right to know. The Supreme Court ordered the State Bank of India to cough up details of all bonds sold to date—worth a total of Rs 121.55 billion (12,155 crore). And so here we are.
What we know now: Let’s sum up the most intriguing details—but remember, we still can’t connect the donor to the recipient of the bond without the unique alphanumeric numbers of bonds.
One: The top donor is Santiago Martin of Future Gaming and Hotel Services—who bought a total of Rs 13.68 billion (1,368 crore). His is a rags-to-riches story—from a labourer in Myanmar to the ‘Lottery King’ of South India. He has a record of supporting the Left in Kerala, DMK in Tamil Nadu.
Two: He is followed by Megha Engineering out of Telangana (Rs 10 billion), Reliance-linked company Qwik Supply Chain (Rs 4.1 billion) and Haldia Energy (Rs 3.77 billion) based in Bengal. If you’re looking for familiar names, the top ten also includes Vedanta (Rs 3.75 billion), Essel Mining (Rs 2.24 billion), Bharti Airtel Limited (Rs 1.98 billion) and Keventer Foodpark Infra Ltd. (Rs 1.95 billion). Not on the list: Ambani, Tatas or Adani.
Three: Of the top five donors, three bought electoral bonds while under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate and tax officials. These are Future Gaming, Megha Engineering and Vedanta. Some like Megha are also partners in marquee infrastructure projects of the state government in Telangana.
Also this: A number of the top donors are mining and steel companies—awaiting environmental clearances for their projects.
Four: Unsurprisingly, the BJP received the most moolah—a staggering Rs 60 billion (6,060 crore). That’s half the grand total of all bonds ever sold: Rs 127.69 billion (12,769 crore). It has already cashed bonds worth Rs 2 billion (202 crore) just in January—for the Lok Sabha elections this year. Back in 2019, it cashed an eye-popping Rs 10 billion (1,056.86 crore) in April of that year—and Rs 7 billion (714.71 crore) in May.
FYI: Trinamool (Rs 16.09 billion) comes in at #2—not Congress—which is at #3 with Rs 14.21 billion. Congress only cashed in a measly Rs 359 million (35.9 crore) in January.
Five: There is plenty of speculation as to why many of the big players are not on the list. Unnamed sources suggest smaller, no-name companies may be acting as proxies for them. The Telegraph has more on the rumours. Indian Express has more on the ED/tax probe connection, BJP bonds bounty—and future petitions to link donations directly to parties. The Hindu looks at the top donors—and has a full list of the data on donors and parties.
Moving on to election commissioners: We now have two new ECs—to replace Arun Goel who suddenly announced his resignation last week—and Anup Chandra who retired last month. The selection committee—let’s get real, the government—has chosen Sukhbit Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar. Their claim to fame: Kumar oversaw the revocation of Article 370 and was involved in setting up the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust. Sandhu is linked to the passing of the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand. Both bureaucrats have been favoured by the government in the past.
PS: The lone and outvoted Opposition leader on the committee—Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury—says he was given the shortlist of six names just ten minutes before the meeting. Hindustan Times, The Telegraph and Indian Express have more on the selected candidates. A very relevant read: Our Big Story on the new rules of appointment.
Oh no, it’s ONOE!
The context: The committee appointed to look into the ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal submitted its report. Reminder: This is the proposal to hold the elections for state legislature, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha seats—all at the same time (explained in this Big Story).
What happened now: Unsurprisingly, the committee—headed by former president Ramnath Kovind—has come out in strong support of the idea. It has asked the government to set a date for the first mega-election.
Why this is a very big deal: If the government decides that 2029 is going to be the first mega-election, then a number of State governments will be dissolved before their term is up. Ten states will hold elections in 2028—including Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Their governments would have been in power for a year. Others like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Gujarat will last only two years—and Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Kerala governments will have to be dissolved after three.
Point to note: Only Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Haryana—all of which hold elections this year—will have a full five-year term.
What’s next: To implement the new system, the government will have to pass 18 amendments to the Constitution. For the amendments that require syncing elections together, the government does not need state ratification. However, others like the preparation of a common electoral roll will require approval by the states. This will be tricky since most of the key Opposition parties—Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the CPI (M)—hate the idea. Our Big Story explains why ONOE is bad news for regional parties. (Indian Express)
The BJP and Congress roster
So far, the BJP has released candidates for 267 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress has put out the names of 82 candidates.
Prominent leaders: from the BJP, including Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal, former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai. The BJP released its first list of 195 candidates on March 2.
Who’s out: At least 25 sitting MPs from the BJP, including six out of the seven incumbents in the national capital. Former Union ministers Sadananda Gowda and Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' were also dropped from their seats.
The Congress: released its second list on March 12, featuring the likes of Gaurav Gogoi, Nakul Nath and Vaibhav Gehlot.
With each announcement, seats with a direct contest between the BJP and Congress become more apparent. So far, besides Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar going up against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram, Health minister Mansukhbhai Mandaviya faces off against the Congress's Lalitbhai Vasoya in Porbandar, Gujarat. In Bengaluru Rural, DK Suresh will be up against BJP's Manjunath. Mint has an extensive list of the exciting match-ups.
A list of good reads
One: We’re suckers for election data that is visualised towards effective storytelling. Milan Vaishnav and Caroline Mallory’s guide to the big fat Indian election season in Carnegie Endowment will hold you in good stead.
Two: There are elected representatives. There are influencers. Then, there are elected representatives awarding influencers. Saqiba Khan in The Quint analyses why parties are wooing them ahead of elections, and why our PM was handing out trophies at India’s first-ever National Creators Awards.
Three: Reuters has conducted an independent investigation into the Prudent Electoral Trust, which raised $272 million since its creation in 2013, funnelling almost 75% of that to the BJP. Eight of India's biggest business groups donated at least $50 million in total between 2019 and 2023 to the trust. Just another day unravelling the massive war chest of the ruling party.
