On the day that this column appears in ‘Gulf News’, India will have started the world’s largest democratic exercise with phase one of the general elections. The 7 phase polls will finish with counting on the 4th of June.
Narendra Modi is widely tipped to win another term but will this battle be tougher than the BJP would like to admit? In public, the Prime Minister set a target of 370 seats for the BJP alone, up 67 seats from last time.
Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/india-elections-why-modi-is-the-bjps-ultimate-trump-card-1.102225496
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Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
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#UAEnews #India #politics
Narendra Modi is widely tipped to win another term but will this battle be tougher than the BJP would like to admit? In public, the Prime Minister set a target of 370 seats for the BJP alone, up 67 seats from last time.
Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/india-elections-why-modi-is-the-bjps-ultimate-trump-card-1.102225496
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #India #politics
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NewsTranscript
00:00The world's biggest democratic exercise is finally underway, with India's general elections
00:09kicking off with round one of voting. It's a high-stakes battle for everyone involved,
00:13from Mr Modi, who's seeking a third straight term, to the opposition that's fighting to
00:17stay relevant. An interesting survey put out by the CSDS Lokmiti just days ago, ahead of
00:24these elections, tells us a more complex picture of what things are going to look like. Firstly,
00:30that target of 400-plus for the NDA that the Prime Minister keeps talking about may not
00:34be that easy for the BJP and its allies to achieve, simply because there are some economic
00:41headwinds that the party is encountering after 10 years in power. The respondents of this
00:46survey cited unemployment and inflation as amongst the top issues which concern them,
00:51and they're not happy about this. So that's clearly something that is telling on the ground.
00:56But at the same time, in what reflects the complexity and the contradiction of how the
01:01Indian electorate votes, the survey also shows that Mr Modi's popularity is still quite high,
01:06personally, way ahead of Rahul Gandhi's, and that the NDA therefore enjoys a comfortable
01:1212-point lead over the opposition India alliance. What it does reflect, though, is that economic
01:18issues and economic distress could surprise the BJP in certain pockets of the country.
01:23This may end up being a tougher fight than what was initially predicted. We'll have to
01:28see, though, how it ultimately plays out over the next few weeks. It's a long election.
01:34And this survey, in a sense, also gives you an idea of why the BJP's campaign is so Modi-centric.
01:41Because ultimately, they're making it about Narendra Modi, Modi's guarantee, and hoping
01:45that that's the trump card that wins them 2024.