Election Yatra 2024: CEOs, diplomats hit the road to experience the festival of democracy

Defence minister Rajnath Singh with CEOs, diplomats and editors who were part of Network18's Election Yatra

India’s great festival of democracy, the 2024 general elections, is being avidly followed in Indian and global boardrooms, markets around the world, and in global corridors of power.

It is, to use market terminology, an ‘event risk’, one of considerable magnitude. Politicians, journalists and psephologists are thus not the only ones biting their nails and foraging for scraps of information to divine the direction of the political winds.

Market participants are busy these days excavating the rather unfamiliar terrain of voter turnout data to figure out the mind of the electorate.

The elections have also attracted a fair amount of international attention. What happens in the world’s fifth largest economy—to be third largest by 2027, according to international agencies—matters a lot.

Given this backdrop, Network18 organized a three-day tour of Uttar Pradesh, the populous beating heart of the world’s largest democracy. The ‘Election Yatra’ brought together an eclectic group of business leaders, CEOs, investors, and diplomats.

Rajnath Singh interacting with "election yatris" over chai and samosas at his residence in Lucknow

“Spent two interesting and fun days on the election trail in UP...We had very engaging meetings with political leaders of all hues, attended some rallies, and got a first-hand feel of democracy in action,” Rajiv Memani, Chairman and Managing Partner, EY India, who was on the trip, wrote on LinkedIn.

The highlights of the trip included meetings with defence minister Rajnath Singh, who is also a former chief minister of UP and a candidate from Lucknow; Smriti Irani, the minister for Women and Child Development and the candidate from Amethi; and Sanjeev Balyan, the minister of state for animal husbandry, dairying, and fisheries.

The group also caught up with UP’s deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, several state government ministers, MPs and MLAs.

Union minister Smriti Irani in an informal conversation with CEOs, ambassadors and Network18 editors at her residence in Amethi

On the opposition side,  the election yatris heard the perspective of Akhilesh Yadav, the state’s former chief minister, Congress leader Priyanka Vadra-Gandhi and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot.

For the diplomats on the trip,  the election rallies encapsulated the magic of Indian elections. “On the road in UP, experiencing rallies, meeting leaders. Incredible to see how people are involved in the democratic process,” May-Elin Stener, Norway’s Ambassador to India and Sri Lanka, said on X.

Joining @Network18Group on a poll sojourn in #Lucknow to understand and experience Indian elections first hand.

Thank you @nalinmehta for the invite & helping us learn more.

Probably turning reporter for the next 2 days as I share experiences from the ground pic.twitter.com/haBy6QVfju

— Ambassador May-Elin Stener (@NorwayAmbIndia) May 15, 2024

Norway is part of the European Free-Trade Area (EFTA), with which India recently signed a free-trade agreement.

Besides the election rallies and the closed-door meeting with politicians, one of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir at Ayodhya.

pic.twitter.com/aL35CDdYkp

— Samir Arora (@Iamsamirarora) May 16, 2024

In the run-up to counting day, June 4, the markets have experienced some choppiness, though currently, it seems to have entered a period of relative stability.

Outside Ayodhya's Ram Mandir during Network 18 Election Yatra

“The markets will be happy if the numbers (for the BJP) is more than 272,” Sameer Arora, founder of Singapore-based Helios Capital and an election yatri,  told CNBC-TV18 on Tuesday. He added that not raising capital gains tax was equally, if not more, important.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi with the "election yatris" on the sidelines of a rally in Rae Bareli

Samajwadi Party president meeting with Network18's election yatris in Lucknow

Others on the trip were Abhay Soi, Managing Director of Max Healthcare Institute Ltd; Rajesh Agarwal, co-founder of Micromax Informatics Ltd; Sahil Vachani, Managing Director and CEO of Max Estates Ltd; Ridham Desai, a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley India and head of the firm’s equity research team in the country; Rohit Kapoor, CEO of Swiggy- Food MarketPlace; Freddy Svane, Denmark’s ambassador to India; Vikram Sakuja, Group CEO of Madison Media & OOH and Sandeep Goyal, chairman of Rediffusion.