Electoral bonds, CAA notification, Haryana reshuffle & EC chaos: Decoding this week's political saga

Hello Readers,

Welcome to our weekly Political Theatre—where we delve into developments that have shaped the intricate landscape of Indian politics in the past week.

This week's grand political carnival kicked off with Congress unveiling its 82 contenders for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. While BJP's battalion has grown to 267 after releasing its second list, Didi's Trinamool Congress marches to its own beat in West Bengal's political theater.

Amidst the chaos, the Election Commission's wild ride from a lone ranger to full house once again has left many scratching their heads. And just when you thought it couldn't get any wilder, the veil of secrecy over political funding via electoral bonds was finally lifted.

Hold onto your hats, folks, as we dive headfirst into the rollercoaster ride of Indian politics

Electoral Bonds: Lifting the veil of secrecy on political funding

After a long legal battle, information on electoral bonds is finally out in the public domain as the Supreme Court judgment on February 15 has helped in lifting the veil of secrecy over political funding in India. 

On Thursday late evening (March 15), the Election Commission of India compiled and put out the data on electoral bonds provided to it by the State Bank of India (SBI). This came after the top court rejected the request by SBI for time till June 30 to disclose to the EC details of electoral bonds purchased anonymously and encashed by political parties. 

Following the court order and SBI sharing the information with EC, the poll body uploaded data running into 763 pages—337 of buyers and 426 of those who redeemed them—on its website.

In the list published by the EC on its website, Future Gaming and Hotel Services and Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd are the top buyers of electoral bonds since April 2019, while steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon are among the prominent individual buyers.

However, the unique bond number against each purchase and encashment, which would have revealed who donated how much to political parties, was missing from the list. The Supreme court on Friday expressed displeasure over the unique bond numbers not being disclosed and issued notice to the SBI over it.

EC commissioners: From down to 1 to full house in just 4 days

In what came as a surprising decision just days before the announcement of the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigned, leaving the three-member Election Commission (EC) down to a single office-bearer amid opposition’s allegations of an “alarming collapse” of the Election commission’s independence, 

Goel, who was appointed Election Commissioner in November 2022 and since then has been part of the conduct of at least eight Assembly elections, still had a tenure until 2027 at the EC.

While it was not clear why Goel stepped down, some reports indicated that there were "differences on various issues" and that could be a reason for his resignation.

Realising the gravity of the situation since Lok Sabha elections are just days away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-chaired a high-powered committee on Thursday to finalise the names of former bureaucrats Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as two new election commissioners.

Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was part of the panel, recorded his dissent and questioned the procedure that was followed, saying the names of shortlisted officers were not made available to him in advance despite his request. 

BJP rings the bell on contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act

The Union Home Ministry has implemented the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019—which was enacted four years ago and sparked widespread protests across the country—by notifying its rules. 

Even though the government faces legal challenges with more than 200 petitions challenging the CAA in the Supreme Court on the ground that it violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution, the government has decided to go ahead with it.

The government’s move comes days ahead of Lok Sabha elections, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah saying that with this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “delivered on another commitment and realised the promise” to the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians living in the three countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan) from the makers of the Constitution.

The notification of the CAA rules led to another round of protests in various parts of the country. Opposition parties and the Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Delhi have vowed to oppose it. They questioned the timing of the notification and allege that the BJP is trying to exploit religious sentiments for political gains ahead of the Lok Sabha polls

All eyes will be on the Supreme Court, which is set to hear pleas to stay the implementation of the controversial Act. 

One Nation, One Poll: Simultaneous elections proposal rocks the political boat

In boost to another of the BJP's pet projects, a high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind submitted its report on ‘one nation, one election’ and recommended holding simultaneous elections in the country to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, as well as local bodies.

The panel has suggested a two-step approach to holding simultaneous polls—first one being simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and assemblies and in the second step, polls to the municipalities and panchayats within 100 days of holding elections to the Lok Sabha and assemblies. 

Major opposition parties such as Congress, AAP, CPM, TMC, DMK, and Samajwadi Party opposed the idea and claimed that ‘one nation, one election’ is against parliamentary democracy and federalism.

The committee felt simultaneous polls would “optimise scarce resources, encourage voters to participate in electoral process and end disruption to governance”.

Change of guard in Haryana: BJP shuffles the deck ahead of state elections

Continuing with its strategy of changing chief ministers to bring up the next generation of leaders to quell anti-incumbency just months before elections, the BJP on Wednesday effected a change of guard in Haryana and replaced the old government with a new one. 

Haryana Chief Manohar Lal Khattar and his cabinet ministers resigned, followed by BJP state president and Kurukshetra MP Nayab Singh Saini taking over the reigns, just within a few hours.

The saffron camp also ended its four-and-half-year alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) led by Dushyant Chautala, apparently over the latter becoming too “demanding”. 

This change of guard in Haryana wasn't so much about outgoing Chief Minister Khattar or his replacement Saini. It was more about the BJP's style of functioning. The move was part of the now-familiar BJP playbook in recent years – blunt any anti-incumbency sentiment against the government by providing the party with a fresh face. This was done in Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka and now in Haryana.  

As far as M L Khattar is concerned, the former CM has set his sight on Delhi as the BJP has fielded him from Haryana’s Karnal for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

Congress unveils first two lists of candidates with a dash of suspense

Days after the BJP released its first list of candidates, the Congress too came out with its two lists of candidates this week, comprising a total of 82 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.  

There were no real surprises in both lists, with the party fielding its senior leaders in the Hindi heartland states, from where it was wiped out in the 2019 elections.

The grand old party has once again fielded Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in Kerala while there is still suspense over him fighting from Amethi, where he lost to Smriti Irani in 2019. Similarly, there is suspense over the electoral debut of AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Raebareli. 

The Congress’s renewed focus on representation for OBCs was clearly seen in both the lists. In the first list, there were a total of 24 candidates who come from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class (OBC) or minority categories. The second list had 13 candidates from OBC communities, 10 from Scheduled Castes, nine from Scheduled Tribes and two Muslims.

BJP rolls out the big guns for LS polls

Almost twelve days after the ruling BJP released the first list of 195 candidates, the saffran camp unveiled 72 more names on Thursday for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Several big guns like Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Anurag Thakur, and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar were among those listed.

Although a large number of candidates were retained, the party dropped at least 28 sitting MPs while including three former Chief Ministers, nine Union Ministers, two Rajya Sabha MPs, and 15 women. Both lists of the ruling party had a clear emphasis on the winnability factor as the saffron camp itself had set an ambitious target of 370 seats this time

No alliance: Mamata Banerjee's 'Ekla Cholo Re' in West Bengal

It is a collapse of I.N.D.I.A. bloc in West Bengal after Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress fielded candidates in all 42 Lok Sabha seats in state.

If this was not enough, Mamata Banerjee, while speaking at a mega rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, said the party will field candidates in Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh also, rubbing salt on the wounds of an already battered opposition unity. 

The only option for the Congress now is to try and stitch an alliance with the Left parties in West Bengal. However, if this happens, it will be interesting to see, given the fact that the two forces are ranged against each other in Kerala.

Trump Vs Biden 2.0: First US election rematch in nearly 70 years

Stage is set for the first US presidential election rematch in nearly 70 years after US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump clinched their parties' nomination this week.

Biden, who needed 1,968 delegates to win the nomination, passed that number on Tuesday night from the Democratic primary contest in Georgia while , Trump clinched the1,215 delegates required to secure the Republican presidential nomination.

Hours later, Trump said there was no time to celebrate, and put focus on beating Biden, calling the US President as the "worst" president in history.

It will be interesting to see how the fight between the two pan out as both Biden and Trump are unpopular with the majority of voters, according to Reuters/Ipsos public polls survey.

Things are heating up, here and abroad. So stay tuned for further updates on the evolving Indian political landscape. Until next time!

Exit stage left, 

DH Newsletters Team