Lok Sabha elections 2024 refers to the general elections scheduled to take place starting 19 April in seven phases. The results of these election will give India its next government.
Lok Sabha elections or General Elections are conducted every five years in India. Held across 543 constituencies, Members of Parliament to the lower house are elected through these polls. The party with a majority in the Lok Sabha then forms the government at the Centre, so these elections eventually lead to the election of the Prime Minister and their cabinet.
The Lok Sabha, or the House of the People, is the lower house of India’s bicameral Parliament. The upper house is called the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies.
The first Lok Sabha elections were held in 1951 when the Indian National Congress came to power with Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister. The last such election was held in 2019, where the Bharatiya Janta Party came to power with an overwhelming majority with Narendra Modi as prime minister. The next elections are scheduled to take place in 7 phases starting 19 April 2024. The Election Commission of India is responsible for conducting these elections.
I pray that with the revival of democracy, there will be a revival of the fourth estate within the country which has all but lost character the past 10 years. Barring a couple of internet platforms whose owners were made to face the dreaded institutions, every press and media agency has genuflected before Modi and changed course to remain in his good books. If Shekhar Gupta credits this election with the revival of democracy, he must also pledge to revive his professional community to re-establish its non-partisan attitude while covering news and events before presenting them to the people.
and what about the voter turn out in entire country? what about the voters who were not allowed to vote even after they had the voter IDs? what cheap politics did the politicians play on the name of religion and caste but not on what they developed and provided to citizens? what about chowkidar letting go mallya nirav and choksi out of country after ditching govt. banks with billions of rupees? even after they controlled the election commission, courts, police and above all the media, and running IT cell, .. loss for bjp in their own place in ayodhya with 80% of hindu population… having a temple built… why so… that’ll answer the question on how democrat is india…
Mr. Gupta, India’s democracy may not be dead but it has been badly beaten and bruised during BJP’s last two terms. Secondly, voters have been polarised; elections results of the recent past prove this. Thirdly, anyone half awake can see that the EC is compromised. Even the selection process for the commissioners has been amended to ensure bias. And just because there is a worse example in Mexico, doesn’t mean Indian elections have been impartially conducted. If not physical, political assassinations did take place here (e.g., Surat, Indore)
Kudos to Mr. Shekhar Gupta or such a brilliant analysis of post election results and the consequences .Alike it is my conviction domocracy exists in every Indian roots and whoever has tried to be autocratic or diistatorial will vanish. Indian lives and grows in diversity. We have seen highest growth and development under coalition governments. true Shekhar we are back to coalition era, tolerance and accommodation. Your write up is unique.
India itself is a coalition. Layered across many textures. True, there were moments in UPA II when coalition compulsions became a derogatory term, but, in the main, how did non single party governments in Delhi hurt either normal governance or economic growth. Those governments could not have done something like Demonetisation. Avoided answering tough questions on Ladakh or the pandemic. Constructed a new Parliament House without a minute’s discussion in Parliament. I think we need to revisit this entire concept of strong governments with brute majorities. Recall the multiple missteps of PM Rajiv Gandhi with 414 lampposts.
So according to this democracy means a fractured mandate, crippled government, horsetrading, mid term elections….and a clear mandate by people leads to dictatorship…so a banana republic is what should be called voice of the people and a clear mandate is majoritism