Editorial: Free and fair

As many as 16.63 crore voters, including 8.4 crore male, 8.23 crore female, and 11,371 third gender electors were slated to exercise their franchise on Friday as the world’s biggest democratic exercise, the 2024 general election kicked off with 102 Lok Sabha constituencies going to the polls in the first phase. While the BJP-led NDA is aspiring for a third straight term in office, following the victories of the 2014 and 2019 elections, the Opposition INDIA bloc is hoping to place some speed bumps in the nationalist party’s relentless march. The BJP has sought the blessings of the electorate with its pitch for Viksit Bharat, highlighting the achievements of the Modi government’s decadal regime.

The Congress, which happens to be the largest party in the INDIA grouping has pointed out problems plaguing the nation — from unemployment to inflation, misuse and abuse of Central agencies as well as the all pervasive threats to the secular and democratic framework of India. Even as televised consensus might tempt citizens into accepting a foregone conclusion that Modi will be back in power, maybe even with a bigger majority than in 2019, political analysts caution voters from counting their chickens before they hatch.

A factor that has come up in discourse pertaining to the elections is that of confirmation bias. Essentially, the gargantuan volume of opinion polls churned out by news outlets needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. While some surveys might be based on empirical data and on-ground research, several analyses are piggybacking on parroted narratives, which lead to broad commonalities between the projections, vis-a-vis the number of seats won by each alliance or party.

We also need to factor in poll percentage before making assessments on the elections, which will conclude on June 1. As of 7 pm on Friday, a voter turnout of 72.09% was recorded in Tamil Nadu, while an aggregate turnout of 60% was recorded across the 102 constituencies that polled in the first phase. While Tamilians can hold their heads up in pride, turning out in droves to fulfill their democratic duty, one is struck by the realisation that despite the campaign by the Election Commission of India to achieve 100% voting, such a turnout is practically impossible.

Political experts have cited reasons such as the presence of duplicate entries in electoral rolls as well as the retention of names of deceased persons. One might also recall the Election Commission’s revelations this month regarding how less than 40% of India’s youngest voters (18-19-year-olds) had registered to vote in the 2024 elections. Here in Tamil Nadu, the administration was struggling to onboard teenagers onto the poll bandwagon, as just about 50% of those in the 18-19 age group had chosen to register for polling, tying with the youth of Andhra Pradesh and exceeding Kerala (38%).

Let’s not forget, the 2024 elections have been set into motion amid the backdrop of accusations against the BJP government at the Centre of misusing government machinery to manipulate electoral rolls with bogus names (in Bihar), crackdowns on opposition political leaders (such as Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal), and freezing of campaign funds (as was done with the Congress). Turns out, the definition of free and fair elections is quite malleable and ductile, as far as India is concerned.