The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 will be starting on April 19. The nationwide elections will be held in seven phases and the results will be declared on June 4. This time elections are going to be long, and the opposition is finding it difficult. 2024 Lok Sabha polls being the second longest elections ever held in India. General elections will be held across 28 states and eight Union territories. Besides, India became the world’s most populated country across the world last year. So far, 17 general elections, over 400 state assembly elections, 16 presidential elections, and Vice-presidential elections have been conducted.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) held a crucial meeting to discuss the party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls that are scheduled to be held in seven phases beginning from April 19. Earlier on 18 March, the BJP held one more core committee meeting at the party headquarters to announce potential candidates for various states for the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, Odisha, Sikkim, Maharashtra, and Gujarat were discussed in the core committee meeting.
BJP’s IT cell and its local leaders are geared up for 400 plus seats this time. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India asked the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to halt sending out Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s letter on WhatsApp seeking support in building a ‘Viksit Bharat’. The poll body has also sought a compliance report immediately from the Ministry. This comes days after the Opposition had written to the Election Commission to act against what they said was a “blatant violation” of the model code of conduct. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress has been repeatedly raising that how is it that the BJP’s campaign message on ‘Viksit Bharat’ is reaching millions of India, not only in India but in the UAE by getting access to a government database of telephone numbers. How did the BJP get access to a government database?
Well, the powerful BJP tactfully clutched Congress and blocking its resources. The Congress appealed to constitutional bodies to allow them to access bank accounts if they want free and fair polls. Addressing a special briefing, senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Holding fair polls is essential, and there should be level playing field. Those in power should not have monopoly over resources.”
While India’s both national parties locked horns with each other, the state level politics has their own challenges to deal with. A meeting of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders got underway at the residence of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and the allies are likely to finalise their seat-sharing deal for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Balasaheb Thorat, who were in Delhi for the party’s Central Election Committee meeting, returned to Mumbai for the meeting.
Tamil Nadu’s main opposition AIADMK released its final list of 16 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls and also named its candidate for the lone Puducherry Parliamentary constituency. The AIADMK has completed the exercise of naming nominees and allotting seats to allies, and party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami is all set to launch his election campaign from Tiruchirappalli on March 24. In total, the AIADMK contested in 32 segments and it has allotted seven constituencies to allies, the DMDK, Puthiya Tamizhagam and SDPI. Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha constituencies.
For the Tirunelveli LS seat, Palaniswami announced Simla Muthuchozhan who was formerly with the DMK. She had unsuccessfully contested in 2016 against late AIADMK matriarch J Jayalalithaa from the RK Nagar Assembly constituency. Daughter-in-law of former DMK leader SP Sarguna Pandian, Muthuchozhan joined the AIADMK recently. An advocate, she is also the only woman candidate announced by the AIADMK for the Lok Sabha polls. For the Vilavancode Assembly bypoll, the main opposition party has named a woman candidate.
This day The Supreme Court dismissed applications seeking a stay on the appointment of two new election commissioners. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said it will examine the main petitions challenging the validity of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Terms of Office) Act, 2023. During the hearing, the bench questioned the Centre over the procedure adopted for appointment of two new election commissioners. It said the selection committee should have been given more time to apply its mind on the appointment of election commissioners.
2024 is also crucial for Aam Aadmi Party, there are so many allegations and court cases on their party leaders. The Delhi High Court refused to pass any orders for “no coercive action” by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while hearing his application for interim relief in the excise policy case. Kejriwal’s application for interim relief for no coercive action was filed in his main writ petition challenging the summons issued to him by the ED and the validity and interpretation of certain provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
In Maharashtra, with the INDIA alliance having the backing of Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis has played a crucial role in balancing the alliance. Fadnavis not only has to focus on achieving the target of winning 45 seats for the BJP-led alliance in the state, but he also has to play the role of a ‘peacemaker’ and resolve frictions among party workers and allies – new and old. But in back-to-back meetings that continued till the wee hours of Thursday, Fadnavis has reportedly not been able to resolve differences over Satara and Madha Lok Sabha seats in western Maharashtra.
