BJP First Candidate List: Who is more battle ready for 2024 – NDA or INDIA bloc?

BJP has continued with the practice of announcing candidates early.

BJP has blown the bugle announcing its readiness for the 2024 general elections by releasing its first list of candidates. With poll dates yet to be announced, BJP gets the first mover advantage by making names public, as it gives more time to its candidates to campaign compared to the competition.

It has released names for 195 seats which includes the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, while accommodating two ex-Chief Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Biplab Deb. Despite seeking the mandate in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi it is still giving weightage to  local candidates.

The poll dates have not even been announced and BJP has continued with the practice of announcing candidates early which was employed by it in state elections of MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

In the run up to the elections, who is more battle ready, BJP led NDA or opposition INDIA bloc.

There are six parameters to check the election readiness of parties:

1) Announcement of PM candidate

2) Sealing of Alliances

3) Announcement of Candidates

4) ⁠Launch of campaign - Rallies & Events

5) ⁠Campaign theme/song

6) ⁠Vision / Key Promises

PM Candidate

In an era where elections are becoming increasingly Presidential-style, the PM face of the alliance assumes significance.

In 2019 as per Axis My India exit poll, for 37 percent of the respondents, the main voting consideration was the Prime Ministerial face, followed by party symbol (25 percent) and local candidate (22 percent).

While NDA has a clear PM candidate in Narendra Modi who rules the popularity charts, there is no clarity on the name of INDIA bloc PM candidate. Nitish Kumar left the bloc as he was not made the face of the opposition.

While Mallikarjun Kharge has been named as Chairperson it is not clear whether he will be the PM face of the alliance or not. He himself has ruled it out on certain occasions.

Alliances

Both sides have more or less firmed up their alliances. The PM has claimed on the floor of Parliament that NDA will win 400+ seats. This target has received a boost with the gharwapsi of JDU and RLD switch. However, the party is still on the lookout for allies and leaves nothing to chance. There is also buzz about BJD and TDP joining NDA. AIADMK could also be a late surprise.

INDIA bloc, after a few setbacks in Bihar and West Bengal, has been able to set its house in order. Congress has sealed alliances with SP in UP and with AAP in 5 states.

As per reports, its seat sharing deal between Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Prakash Ambedkar’s party and Congress is also almost finalized. NDA seat sharing in Maharashtra and Bihar are still in the works as there is a problem of plenty.

However, the key difference between NDA and INDIA is that BJP is the clear captain of the ship, while in INDIA many players are vying for the role.

Candidates

While BJP has announced candidates for 195 seats, Congress is yet to announce names. In 2019 BJP had contested on 435 seats, while in 2024 it is expected to contest on more seats due to exodus of allies in Tamil Nadu and Punjab, so it has released a list for almost 40% seats.

SP and AAP have announced candidates for a few seats. While regional parties' top leadership is still able to fetch votes in its name, the same cannot be said for Congress, with Gandhis not enjoying the same heft with voters.

Hence it is imperative for the grand old party to release its list soon as candidates are expected to do heavy lifting.

Campaign Theme

BJP’s campaign theme has been launched and it is “Once Again Modi”. The first campaign slogan titled “sapne nahin haqiqat bunte hain, isliye log Modi ko chunte hain” has also been launched. The theme of the opposition bloc is still not clear, it seems to be social justice.

Rallies 

The Prime Minister has launched the campaign for BJP from 1st of March. He was in Jharkhand and Bengal on March 1, and in Bihar on March 2. The INDIA bloc too started its campaign with a grand rally in Patna, Bihar today where top guns including Rahul Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Sitaram Yechury participated.

Vision 

The Prime Minister has laid down the vision of the NDA. The Modi ki Guarantee entails India becoming the third largest economy in his 3rd term and a developed country in the year India celebrates 100 years of its Independence.

Prime Minister Narendra presented a Vision India document for 2047, saying planning for a "Viksit Bharat" (Developed India) by 2047 is a priority area, at a meeting of the Council of Ministers as per reports. BJP is proceeding under the confident assumption that it will win the Lok Sabha election

On the other hand, the INDIA bloc has been raising genuine issues of unemployment, price rice, agri distress etc. but has not come up with a blueprint of solutions. Its excessive focus on caste census might appear to be taking the country backwards, rather than forward by a section of voters, especially the middle class.

Given the above, clearly NDA seems to be better prepared than INDIA bloc to face the grand finale which starts next month. The latter needs to pull up its socks if it is to give a fight.

Amitabh Tiwari is a former corporate and investment banker-turned political strategist and commentator. Twitter: @politicalbaaba. Views are personal, and do not represent the stance of this publication.