Modi Hopes to Get Blessings in God’s Own Country: India Votes

Alex Gabriel Simon
·3 min read
22
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(Bloomberg) -- Each day, Bloomberg journalists take you across a selection of towns and cities as they gear up for the big vote.

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Hi, this is Alex Gabriel Simon. I cover India’s fast-growing stock market from Mumbai. My hometown of Thiruvananthapuram in southern India, known for its lazy backwaters and Ayurveda, will witness a high-voltage contest in the ongoing national elections. Indian National Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations who has since made his home amid the rough and tumble of India’s political scene, will seek to defend his turf against Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for technology in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Dubbed as ‘God’s Own Country,’ Kerala leads the country on various measures for health, education and standard of living, but is grappling with an ageing population, tight finances and educated-but-unemployed youth. Modi is attempting to use these issues to woo voters in the state that has traditionally supported alliances by the Congress or Communist party.

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India’s top court declined to order any changes to the counting of votes in the country’s on-going national elections, rejecting petitions demanding that the Election Commission of India verify each electronic vote cast with a paper slip generated at the time of voting.

India’s high tech hub of Bengaluru votes Friday amid searing heat and a prolonged water shortage, with the ruling and opposition parties trading barbs about the lack of basic resources. “The tanker mafia,” a reference to the water tankers that replenish commercial reservoirs often at high cost, is a major poll issue.

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Campaign Trail

Federal Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the Supreme Court’s decision on the use of electronic voting machines in polls exposed the Congress-led opposition alliance’s attempt to “defame” the Election Commission. Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh said that the party wasn’t among the petitioners in the case.

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The Wall Street Journal reported that the world’s biggest elections got under way in India amid extreme heat. The India Meteorological Department has warned that during this year’s election most parts of the country will face higher than usual temperatures for the time of year, and potentially twice as many extreme heat days.

Who Votes This Week?

India’s mammoth election runs through June 1, with counting scheduled for June 4. This map from the Election Commission of India shows which constituencies vote when.

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Indians have started voting in the world’s biggest election. Understand how money and business intersect with politics and power by following Bloomberg India’s channel on WhatsApp, and sign up for the weekly India Edition newsletter by Menaka Doshi.

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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