BJP accused of using intimidation tactics in Indian polls
Gandhinagar: Mukesh Dalal, from the ruling RSS’s mouth piece BJP, won the seat of Surat by default after every other candidate was either disqualified or dropped out of the race. It was the first time in 73 years that Surat’s candidate was appointed, not elected.
The Kashmir Media Service reported that when the people of Gujarat cast their votes last week in India’s six-week-long election, there was Surat constituency in the state that stood silent. There were no polling stations or impatient queues of people, and no one with the tell-tale inky finger.
Surat is not the only constituency in Gujarat to witness swathes of candidates going up against the Modi-led BJP suddenly withdrawing from the race. In Gandhinagar, where Amit Shah, the home minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-hand man, is running, 16 opposition candidates dropped out before last Tuesday’s voting.
Gujarat is likely to be an easy win for the BJP in the election, which is also expected to return Modi to power for a third term. It is Modi’s home state and the stronghold of his party, which has won every state election here since 1995 and in the last general election in 2019 won all 26 seats.
Yet some have alleged that there have been concerted efforts to cement BJP hegemony in the state and declare wins by huge margins by eliminating the opposition altogether. In Gandhinagar, the BJP is publicly aiming for Shah to win the seat by an unprecedented 1 million votes.
In Surat and Gandhinagar, opposition parties and activists have accused the BJP of undermining democratic processes by using party workers and police to intimidate and put pressure on opposing candidates to withdraw, sometimes with explicit threats of violence or direct harassment of their families. The BJP district and state spokespeople refused to comment. Gujarat’s director general of police, Vikas Sahay, and the home minister, Shah, also did not respond.
Among those who withdrew in Surat was Baraiya Ramesh, 58, who has his own textile business and was running as an independent candidate. He alleged that after submitting his nomination, he began to face a campaign of intimidation.
“I was threatened by the police and pressured to withdraw,” said Ramesh. “Everyone in Surat knows how every candidate was harassed and pressure was put on them to not fight the elections.”
Fearing the threats, he turned his phone off, but as soon as he turned it back on, he claims he was traced by police and picked up. “They clearly told me to withdraw the nomination, so I did,” he said, adding that he feared for his safety but said it was important that he spoke out publicly. “Most of the candidates were threatened by the police.”
In Gandhinagar, five opposition candidates alleged threats in the buildup to campaigning, and 16 ultimately withdrew. Hours before voting began in Gandhinagar, Jitendra Chauhan, 39, who was running as a candidate for the Akhil Bhartiya Parivar party, posted a video on social media. Through sobs, he alleged he was forced to withdraw.
Syed Farzana, a polling agent of the Congress party, showing voting documents of her two sons, who she says were not allowed to vote allegedly by BJP workers.
