Indians all set for Lok Sabha battle

Indians will begin voting today on the first of nine days of polling in crucial parliamentary elections to choose a new Lok Sabha — the largest electoral exercise anywhere in the world — with the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) fighting with its back to the wall to retain power for a third consecutive five-year term.

Almost all opinion polls have given the UPA no chance of returning to office and put the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) clearly ahead in the race to form the next government.

The BJP has gained much from the personality of its prime ministerial nominee, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who evokes strong feelings from those who support and oppose him.

Modi has been accused of failing to stem the 2002 post-Godhra violence in Gujarat, which left more than a thousand people, mainly Muslims, dead. People close to him have also been accused of involvement in fake encounter deaths.

Mr Modi has tried to counter these allegations by trying to keep the focus on the so-called Gujarat model of development, which itself is a major subject of debate in the country, with many people not willing to buy into that story, while others swear by it.

The Gujarat Chief Minister’s opponents, including the Congress, see him as a polarising figure and the tone and tenor of his campaign speeches in recent days have only served to strengthen the impression.

The Congress has tried to build a case for itself on the strength of its achievements in various spheres, but is unable to counter the several allegations of corruption against it. Added to this is the fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a reticent figure, has mostly operated away from the media glare. The party’s most likely choice for the top job if elected to power, Rahul Gandhi, comes across as an eager but inexperienced leader, and suffers in comparison to Mr Modi’s more aggressive persona.

Overall, the Congress has tried to maintain the focus on the secularism vs communalism debate, while the BJP is trying to capitalise on the people’s yearning for change by harping on corruption, inflation and the economic crisis facing the country.

The newly-floated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, is trying to acquire a nationwide footprint by contesting from more than 400 constituencies, and its performance will be watched closely.

There are also other parties like the Janata Dal (United), the Trinamool Congress, the Biju Janata Dal, the Telugu Desam Party, the AIADMK, the DMK, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Asom Gana Parishad and, of course, the Left parties, all of whom have limited influence in some states.

Campaigning ended on Saturday evening for the first round of polling, which will see voters in five constituencies in Assam and one in Tripura in the country’s North-East region cast their votes today.

Polling will be held from 7am to 5pm in these constituencies, official sources said.

In Assam, the five constituencies (out of a total of 14 in the state) going to the polls are Jorhat, Kaliabor, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh and Tezpur. In Tripura, polling will be held today in Tripura West, one of the two parliamentary constituencies in the state.

Four of the seats in Assam are held by the Congress, and one by the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). Tripura West is held by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Polling in the 2014 elections for the 16th Lok Sabha will be held on nine days — April 7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24 and 30 and May 7 and 12.

As many as 21 states will have single-day polling, while five states will have two days of polling, five will have three days of polling, two will have five days of polling and two states will have six days of polling.

Counting of votes will be held for all 543 constituencies on May 16 and all the results are expected to be in by that evening.

The term of the present Lok Sabha will expire on May 31.

Elections will be held simultaneously to the Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.

Polling for these assembly elections as well as for bye-elections for some assembly seats, will be held along with their respective parliamentary constituencies.

The elections will see considerable deployment of Central and State Police Forces to ensure peaceful, free, fair election with fearless participation of electors, especially in vulnerable areas.

The elections are being held on the basis of the extent of parliamentary constituencies (PCs) and assembly constituencies (ACs) as per “Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008”. The 2009 elections were also held on the basis of these PCs.

Electoral rolls have been revised with reference to 1-1-2014 as the qualifying date.

The total electorate in the country as per final published E-rolls in reference to 1-1-2014 is approximately 814.5 million compared to 713 million in 2009. This marks an increase of more than 100 million electors.

There has been a remarkable increase in the enrollment of electors in the age group of 18 to 19 years. Over 23 million electors are in this age group. Electors in the age group of 18 to 19 years now constitute 2.88 per cent of total electors, against 0.75 per cent in 2009.

The Election Commission has allowed enrollment of transgender persons with gender written as “Others” in the electoral rolls since 2012. The number of electors enrolled as “Others” gender is 28,314. As many as 11,844 Indian citizens living overseas have also been enrolled in the current electoral rolls. There are 1,328,621 service electors in the electoral rolls.

Out of the total of 814,591,184 registered electors in the country, the 28 states together account for 98.27 per cent of electors while the seven union territories (UTs) together account for the remaining 1.73 per cent.

Among the UTs, Delhi accounts for 1.48 per cent, with the other six UTs constituting 0.253 per cent of the Indian electorate.

Among states, Uttar Pradesh with more than 134.3 million electors or 16.49 per cent of the national electorate has the largest number of electors, while Sikkim with around 362,000 electors or 0.044 per cent of the national electorate has the smallest number of electors.

Male electors constitute 52.4 per cent, female electors 47.6 per cent and electors belonging to the category “Others” constitute 0.0035 per cent. Among the 28 states and seven union territories, 21 states/UTs have a higher proportion of female electors than that of the national proportion of 47.6 per cent.

There are eight states/UTs where the number of female electors exceeds that of male electors. Puducherry with 52.01 per cent female electors has the highest proportion of female electors, followed next by Kerala with 51.90 per cent.

The National Capital Territory of Delhi has the lowest proportion of female electors at 44.57 per cent, followed next by Uttar Pradesh with 45.20 per cent female electors.

As many as 17 states/UTs have electors belonging to the “Others” category, with Karnataka having the largest number of such electors, followed next by Uttar Pradesh.

There are 23,161,296 electors aged between 18 and 19 years out of a total of 814,591,184 electors in the country, thus constituting 2.8 per cent of the national electorate. Among the 28 states and seven union territories, Dadra & Nagar Haveli has the highest proportion of newly eligible electors at 9.88 per cent, followed next by Jharkhand at 9.03 per cent. Andaman & Nicobar Islands at 1.12 per cent has the lowest proportion of newly eligible electors, followed next by Himachal Pradesh at 1.33 per cent.

In absolute numbers, Uttar Pradesh tops the list with more than 3.81 million electors aged between 18 and 19 years, followed next by West Bengal with around 2.08 million electors in this age group.

Among the electors aged between 18 and 19 years, male electors constitute 58.6 per cent, female electors 41.4 per cent and electors belonging to the category “Others” constitute 0.018 per cent.

Among the 28 states and seven union territories, 21 states/UTs have a higher proportion of female electors in this age category than that of the national proportion of 41.4 per cent. Nagaland with 50.4 per cent female electors in this age group is the sole state where the number of newly eligible female electors exceeds that of newly eligible male electors.

There are 10 states/UTs where the proportion of females among newly eligible electors is less than 40 per cent. Haryana has the lowest proportion at 28.3 per cent followed next by Maharashtra at 35.4 per cent. 15 states/UTs have newly eligible electors belonging to the “Others” category, with Karnataka having the largest number of such electors, followed next by Andhra Pradesh.

There will be approximately 9,30,000 polling stations in the country as compared to 8,30,866 stations in the 2009 elections. — news@khaleejtimes.com

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