<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/14/bjp-accused-intimidation-india-elections-gujarat>
"When the people of Gujarat cast their votes last week in India’s six-week-long
election, there was one constituency in the state that stood silent. There were
no polling stations or impatient queues of people, and no one with the
tell-tale inky finger. In Surat, no voting was necessary – the outcome was
already decided.
Mukesh Dalal, from the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), won the seat by
default after every other candidate was either disqualified or dropped out of
the race. It was the first time in 73 years that Surat’s candidate was
appointed, not elected.
Surat is not the only constituency in Gujarat to witness swathes of candidates
going up against the BJP suddenly withdrawing from the race. In Gandhinagar,
where Amit Shah, the home minister and prime minister Narendra Modi’s
right-hand man, is running, 16 opposition candidates dropped out before last
Tuesday’s voting.
Gujarat is likely to be an easy win for the BJP in the election, which is also
expected to return Modi to power for a third term. It is Modi’s home state and
the stronghold of his party, which has won every state election here since
1995, and in the last general election in 2019 won all 26 seats.
Yet some have alleged that there have been concerted efforts to cement BJP
hegemony in the state and declare wins by huge margins by eliminating the
opposition altogether. In Gandhinagar, the BJP is publicly aiming for Shah to
win the seat by an unprecedented 1 million votes.
In Surat and Gandhinagar, opposition parties and activists have accused the BJP
of undermining democratic processes by using party workers and police to
intimidate and put pressure on opposing candidates to withdraw, sometimes with
explicit threats of violence or direct harassment of their families. The BJP
district and state spokespeople refused to comment. Gujarat’s director general
of police, Vikas Sahay, and the home minister, Shah, also did not respond."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
