The counting of votes for the 18th Lok Sabha will be held on June 4, but the outcome of the ongoing elections is beyond doubt – Prime Minister Narendra Modi will form the next government with a landslide victory. The only question is the number of seats the BJP-led coalition and its opponents will win.
Confident of a third term on the basis of his track record, Prime Minister Modi has promised to take hard decisions with a view to laying strong foundation of Viksit Bharat 2047. For this, he has set a target of winning 400-plus seats.
Fearing that this might come true because people of India trust Modi’s guarantees, a panicked Opposition is accusing the PM of planning to change the Constitution. Coming primarily from the Congress Party, which virtually destroyed the Constitution during 1975 Emergency by suspending fundamental rights, the charge has few takers. The tone and tenor of the public response during the ongoing election campaign shows that people from all sections of society, across India, trust PM Modi’s promises on the basis of his performance during the last decade and have decided to give the BJP and its allies more than two-third majority.
This has been confirmed by all pre-poll surveys conducted by Indian and foreign agencies. The spate of desertions from the Congress and its INDIA allies, and the swelling ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies give further credence to this view. People know that PM Modi has passed historic legislation such as the abrogation of Article 370, banning of triple talaq and provision of women’s reservation in central and state legislatures, all within the framework of the Constitution.
Apex court approval
The constitutionality of these pro-people legislation has been upheld by the Supreme Court in the face of the Oppositionsponsored challenges. The Supreme Court has not only rejected the charge that Central agencies were targeting Opposition leaders in corruption and money-laundering cases, but also ended immunity from criminal action enjoyed by MPs and MLAs taking bribes in the garb of parliamentary privileges.
As recently as April 20, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud hailed the replacement of colonial-era criminal laws by the Modi Government. “They have transitioned India’s legal framework on criminal justice into the new age,” he said at an event in New Delhi.
