Benares, the sacred city of India, woke up this Saturday hit by the umpteenth day of a heat wave. An unforgiving heat enveloped the last day of the largest electoral process on the planet, a gigantic act of democracy that began six weeks ago. One sweats without wanting to, even indoors and under the fans, just by breathing, so that citizens go to the polls as if they had just come out of a swimming pool, threads of sweat sliding down their faces; their shirts and saris are soaked; The police officers, at the door of the polling stations, stain their khaki uniforms with humidity, while they ventilate themselves with their berets. It is June 1 and in this constituency on the banks of the Ganges, the holy river of Hinduism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is risking his seat in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, which will be in charge of investing the Government. In reality, his victory in Benares is almost beyond doubt: the electors here only debate the margin of his dominance; if he will sweep, as he already did in 2019, with almost half a million ballots over his rival; or if the opposition will manage to scratch something.
At Nadesar, a noisy intersection packed with rickshawsand honking, two customer service posts of the main contending parties function almost as an electoral barometer. One is from Modi’s group, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People’s Party); another, from the opposition Congress Party (PdC), which leads a coalition baptized with the acronym India. The stalls are 20 meters from each other, an abyss of self-esteem separates them.
The BJP one, decorated with balloons, is bustling with people, everyone smiles, chants when a foreign reporter appears with a camera; one of the local militants, Ratan Narayan Singh, 52, gives an overview of the situation: “Around 50% of the census has already voted; “This time Modi will win by a million votes.” Another of the militants, an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an extremist organization linked to the BJP, orders a third party to go knocking door to door and convince people to vote for Modi, a practice of dubious legality. They do not see any blemishes in the 10 years of his Government. If you ask them about the economy: “it has had a rebound.” Criticism from the opposition: “They are hoaxes.” They are fervently nationalistic. On one of the poles that holds the canopy that shelters them from the sun, they have hung a poster of Modi praying at the controversial Ram temple, inaugurated by the prime minister in January, and one of the symbols of his electoral power. Narayan Singh considers Modi, more than a leader, “a priest.”
Voters come to the post to ask questions, help them prepare the electoral roll document, and identify the button they have to press on the electronic voting machine: Modi is number 3. They are also given a pamphlet in which the leader He addresses the voter: “Only with your immense love and your blessings will I be able to fulfill all the purposes that every compatriot dreams of.”
At the PdC stall, the mood is dull. The volunteers melt in the sun, the canopy barely provides shade, they receive few voters and they don’t even have water. The lack of means reflects the blocking of the party’s accounts due to an alleged case of non-payment of taxes, protests one of those present, covered in droplets of sweat. This has been one of the complaints of its leaders during the campaign: the alleged partisan use of State organs by the BJP to laminate the opposition. In the first half of the day, they have received about 250 complaints from neighbors, mostly Muslims, who have been denied the right to vote because they do not appear on the census lists. They suspect that it could be a case of manipulation, although they do not provide evidence. “Unemployment is very high,” protests one voter. She calls for a “change in institutions.” Mohammed Faizzuddin Khan, a 32-year-old lawyer and PdC sympathizer, laments the precariousness in the labor market: “There is no stability.”
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Each electoral college, depending on the neighborhood, has its own personality. The entrance to Cutting Memorial Intermediate College (“Catholic minority institution established in 1841,” according to the entrance sign) has been decked out with balloons and posters of a famous cricketer and a Bollywood actor encouraging voting; at the door there is a photocallwhere the Indians pose smiling, raising their fingers stained with blue ink that identifies them as citizens who have already exercised their right to vote. “Proud voter,” says the cardboard decoration. There, Rahul Chaudhary, 30, with a hotel laundry business, and Mohammed Nadeen, 34, owner of a cafe, talk. The first has voted for the BJP; the second to the PdC. They don’t agree on almost anything, but they have been friends for years. The BJP praises the “progress” of the city, the “greatness” of Modi, the “respect” that India has earned on the international stage; The other, who is Muslim, replies that the prime minister’s speeches are increasingly “tendentious.” This divisive policy, he adds, has consequences: his café is getting worse and worse because the Hindu clientele has decreased. “I’m still going,” his friend emphasizes.
At the Sanskrit University, where there is another polling station, a motorcyclist with a saffron bandana—the shade of Hinduism and the BJP—wrapped around his head bursts onto the scene shouting: “Did you vote for Modi?! ”. His name is Vipin Mausam Seth, he is 35 years old. He and his group of motorized friends introduce themselves as “Modi.” lovers”. Seth, a salesman in a small tea shop, does not consider the prime minister a god, but he does believe that he has a “direct” connection with divinity. He gives an example: Modi, who since the campaign concluded has been meditating in Kanniyakumari, a sacred locality, has managed to make the atmosphere “pleasant” this election day. It seems like a joke; The temperature, at that time, is around 44 degrees. “You couldn’t even stand up yesterday,” Seth replies. He says goodbye: “Glory to the god Ram!”
Next door, a group of electoral officials take refuge under a tree, at the foot of a statue dedicated to Sidhartha Gautama. They complain about the lack of resources: they are on the street, without tables or water or fans. That day the newspaper reported the death from heat stroke of 10 election employees in the northern state of Bihar. They also complain about their low salaries, and that Modi has broken his promise to raise them. “I voted for the Congress Party,” confesses Geeta Kumari, 45, one of them. “I don’t care if I win or not. The opposition has to be strong.”
Closing of the polls
Almost on the brink of closure, chaos reigns for a moment in the Jamia Farooqia madrasa (Koranic school), in a Muslim-majority neighborhood. A voter, touched with taqiyah (prayer cap) and long reddish beard, denounces that, after pressing the button on the machine, he has not seen his vote fall into the ballot box. Numerous police officers arrive, about 20, and two armed members of the Indian Reserve Battalion; The curious crowd, a goat prowls the scene. But everything comes to nothing and finally, at six o’clock, the seventh and final phase of the gigantic electoral process concludes.
When the sun sets, it’s time to head to the Papu Ki Adhi tea shop, just a stone’s throw from the sacred bank of the Ganges. The place is a well-known meeting point for political commentators. The shopkeeper heats the water in two blackened teapots on coal embers, while the customers follow the minute by minute of the exit polls, which have begun to appear. The majority projects a comfortable advantage for the coalition led by Modi’s BJP: they would achieve between 374 and 401 seats of the 543 in the Lok Sabha, above the 2019 result; the opposition would remain at 109-139 seats, according to India TV-CNX. The final results will not be known until Tuesday, when the count will take place. Patrons crowd around the long tables, sip under the fans and debate corruption, inflation, education. They are distributed among supporters of the BJP and the PdC, it seems like a twitterIn the real world, they suddenly raise their voices: “People have been robbed by the Government!” one exclaims. “If they have been robbed, how come they continue to vote for them?” answers another. Nobody crosses the line: when they finish, they shake hands and say goodbye until the next day.
“All these exit polls have been designed by the BJP,” Ajay Rai, the PdC candidate competing against Modi for the seat in the Varanasi constituency, protested this Sunday of electoral hangover. He receives Morning Express at his house, where he assures that he will be elected, which would imply that Modi will not. It’s hard to believe it. The polls “are a psychological movement to demotivate the members of our party,” he adds. After the polls closed, the PdC has assured that the coalition it leads will reach 295 seats and will be in a position to form a Government.
Hansraj Vishwakarma, president of the BJP in Varanasi and member of the Legislative Council (the upper house), assures that the accusations about the polls are “baseless”, and is convinced that his party will obtain a third term. “Modi is going to achieve a record victory,” he tells Morning Express. “We have worked really hard on the ground during the campaign. Now you can see the results.”
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