By Neeraj Mishra

There has been an extraordinary inflow of Congressmen into the BJP in the past few months and it is estimated the party has lost close to 10,000 district-level leaders and workers who are now eyeing the panchayat and municipal elections. The trickle that started with Jyotiraditya Scindia and his 20 MLAs three years ago became a flood with each leader coaxing his followers to join the party in power. But of late, the senior leadership of the state, comprising mostly Brahmins, has decided to shift their weight.

Suresh Pachauri, who was close to being discarded by the party, decided to take a jump and with him went Sanjay Shukla from Indore, Arunoda Choubey and Alok Chansoriya from Jabalpur. They were welcomed into the fold by BJP’s Brahmin face in Nadhya Pradesh, Narottam Mishra. It is significant in light of the Ram Mandir movement and related developments. The BJP has announced tongue-in-cheek that the Congress has now become a Catholic Syndicate.

For a long time, Brahmins controlled the politics in the state matched only by thakurs. From Ravishankar Shukla, Shankar Dayal Sharma, Katju, Shyama Charan Shukla to Motilal Vora, Brahmins more or less occupied the top within the party. Only the Scindias in the North and thakurs of Vindhya-Bundelkhand were able to match their strength largely through Arjun Singh and Digvjaya Singh. The top rung spawned several dozen lower rung Brahmin leaders who formed the backbone of the party in the entire state: the chansoriyas, Choubeys  and PC Sharma etc.

With the BJP pushing hard to come up with its own set of Brahmins in Rajendra Shukla and Narottam, the desertion from the Congress is being felt deeply by the party. Less influential Brahmin leaders like Sharma have aligned themselves with Digvijaya Singh for lack of a leader of the stature of Kamal Nath or Singh. The second or younger generation of Congress leaders now has an OBC dominance as in Jitu Patwari and Yadav etc. All the major cities in the state have become bereft of Brahmin leaders and the only name worth it in the Congress now is Vivek Tankha, a Kashmiri Pandit.

Meanwhile, the Congress is still struggling to announce its Lok Sabha candidates with not many takers. Ironically, the prime reason appears to be Rahul Gandhi. Rahul is not seen as very sympathetic towards the Hindu religion, a result of BJP’s relentless negative campaign against him. He has himself done very little to dispel such notions by consistently goofing in public eye about religion. The more politically disturbing element for the Congress is that Congressmen in the state do not see him as a winner despite both his Yatras going through the state. The one consistent complaint of course is that he never gives enough time to politics and state-level politicians preferring to stay in his closed circle and depending on their feedback.

The Election Commission on Saturday announced the dates and phases for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Lok Sabha Elections 2024 are to be held in 7 phases from April 19 and the counting of votes on June 4.

The first phase is to be held on April 19 in 102 seats, the second phase on  April 26 in 89 seats, the third phase on May 7 in 94 seats, the fourth phase on May 13 in 96 seats, the fifth phase on May 20 in 49 seats, the sixth phase on May 25 and the seventh phase on  June 1 in 57 seats each.

Single-poll date States and UTs are Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Andaman & Nicobar Island, Chandigarh, DDN&H, Delhi, Goa, Lakshadweep, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, and Sikkim.

The Assembly elections for Andhra Pradesh will be on May 13, Sikkim on April 19, Arunachal Pradesh on April 19, and Odisha will be held on May 13.

By-elections to 26 Assembly constituencies are to be held alongside LS polls. Voting for 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh on May 13 and counting of votes on June 4. Voting for 60 Assembly seats of Arunachal Pradesh and 32 of Sikkim on April 19. Voting for 32 Assembly seats in Sikkim on April 19 and voting for Odisha in two phases; for 42 seats is on May 25, and for 42 seats is on June 1.

Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that they have 97 crore registered voters, more than combined voters of a few continents. Over 10.5 lakh polling stations, 1.5 crore polling officials, security officials, he added. More than 55 lakh EVMs, 4 lakh vehicles.

The term of the 17th Lok Sabha is due to expire on June 16, 2024. The terms of legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim are also due to expire on June 24. Assembly elections are also due in Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Election Commissioner further said.

Our electoral roll includes 82 lakh voters of over 85 years of age, 2.18 lakh centenarians, Kumar said.

He said 96.8 crore are total electorates in the country. Out of this, 49.7 crore are male and 47.1 crore are female. Meanwhile, there are 1.8 crore first-time voters in these elections and 19.47 crore voters between the age group of 20-29 years, he added.

Kumar said that they are also very conscious about sustainable elections as a part of their responsibility towards the environment. That’s why they have issued directions to the election machinery, he further said.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha said on Saturday that the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) arrest of her was illegal.

In order to get her remand for custodial interrogation in the money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in the abandoned Delhi excise policy 2021–22, BRS leader K Kavitha was taken before a Delhi court on Saturday, according to officials.

Before being produced in the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi, Kavitha said, it’s an illegal arrest, will fight it out. At 5:20 p.m. on Friday, the BRS leader was taken into custody by the central agency from her Hyderabad home in Banjara Hills.

The 46-year-old MLC, daughter of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief and former Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao, is the third high-profile leader to be detained in this case. Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are already arrested in the same case in addition to her.

As her petition for no coercive action in this case is pending before the Supreme Court and is scheduled for March 19, the Enforcement Directorate was expected to request 10-day custody of her from the court. Her defense, on the other hand, was expected to contest the request, claiming that the probe agency action was illegal.

The ED claims that Kavitha was associated with a group of booze dealers known as the South Group, which sought to have a bigger role in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. One of the accused, Vijay Nair, allegedly accepted bribes totaling at least Rs 100 crore from the South Group, an AAP leadership group reportedly led by Sarath Reddy, Kavitha, and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy.

Meanwhile, Kavitha was called by the Enforcement Directorate to appear in court three times last year and once again this year, but she declined, claiming a Supreme Court direction that protected her from any coercive actions.