India's Opposition Parties to Jointly Contest 2024 Elections

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Facts

  • The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), formed in June by 28 opposition parties, announced on Friday that they will contest the 2024 national elections together "as far as possible" to avoid splitting votes in favor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).1
  • The likely exceptions are reportedly the states of Kerala, where the BJP has a minor presence, and West Bengala, where the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is expected to challenge Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.2
  • The resolution to start seat-sharing arrangements to set up direct fights against BJP candidates in each voting district in the vote scheduled to be held by May 2024 came after a two-day meeting in Mumbai attended by several opposition key figures, including Congress party's Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.3
  • Additionally, instead of appointing a single convenor, the alliance announced a 14-member coordination committee to perform tasks, including establishing statewide committees, finalizing meeting venues, and planning the proposed collective public rallies throughout the country.4
  • The Chief Minister of the state of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, added Saturday that the opposition alliance will hold countrywide programs on Oct. 2 to celebrate Gandhi Jayant — an annual event to commemorate the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi — without providing further details.5
  • Meanwhile, on Thursday, Modi's government established a high-level committee to examine if it's possible to simultaneously roll out national and state elections, a move that has fueled speculations of an early national poll as a "special session" of Parliament — the first since 2017 — was announced a day earlier.6

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2The Indian Express, 3ABC News, 4Frontline, 5Outlookindia, and 6Tribuneindia News Service.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by National Herald. While seat-sharing agreements are likely to boost the opposition camp in the national elections, public disillusion alone may not be enough to dethrone Modi. Thus, the INDIA alliance must also have a communication strategy, an electoral plan, and a vision for the country, as the BJP has unmatched financial power and control over the media and the state machine.
  • Narrative B, as provided by India TV News. Opposition leaders that have created this so-called unity platform exclusively to try to defeat Modi have groundlessly claimed that the premier has become scared to the point that he's planning to weaken democracy to remain in power. His actions say otherwise, as he has recommended the "one nation, one election" concept to bolster India's democratic system.

Predictions