The Lok Sabha elections in India are scheduled to be held in March-April this year. All political parties have stepped up their preparations for the elections.
As part of its preparations, the newly formed opposition bloc, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.), has started discussing the seat-sharing formula among itself.
The Congress, the largest party in the alliance, has even held meetings with other allies in some states, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar.
Seat Sharing To Be Major Challenge
Meetings between Congress and its allies on seat-sharing in several states have remained inconclusive as there has been no official statement from the alliance.
However, several media reports have claimed that the Congress is facing challenges from its allies on seat sharing for the 2024 general elections.
According to media reports, the Congress met the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to discuss seat-sharing in Punjab and Delhi. AAP has agreed to offer Congress three out of seven seats in Delhi, while in Punjab it has offered six out of 13 seats.
Amid such reports, Congress politician Sandeep Dikshit said that "there is no clarity whether there will be an alliance in Delhi or not", while the party's Punjab unit chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring told the media that 'they are ready to contest all 13 seats.'
Similarly, in West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is in power, the Congress has been offered two seats out of 42, while the TMC wants a bigger share.
Political expert Vinod Kumar Shukla commented on the seat-sharing issue, highlighting it as a significant challenge for the alliance. According to Shukla, the I.N.D.I.A. is currently facing its biggest hurdle as consensus on this matter remains elusive.
“The main issue why the alliance is not able to reach to a consensus is that the regional parties are willing to give a bigger share to Congress in their respective states. They want that their candidates should contest elections on more number of seats in their stronghold,” Shukla said.
Contrarily, political pundit Prem Kumar contends that seat-sharing is not a major concern. According to Kumar, the crucial aspect is the unanimous desire of all alliance members to be part of the coalition.
“Seat sharing is a part of strategy and sometimes things are not announced too early. The members of the alliance are meeting to discuss about it and are reaching to a consensus. There might be no announcement as of now but as part of the strategy the alliance might announce it statewise later,” Kumar stated.
No Counter to Ram Temple
Both political experts concur that the grand consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, has posed another challenge for the alliance. They assert that the event has significantly swayed Hindu voters in favour of the BJP.
“People across the country are overwhelmed after it was announced that the consecration of Ram Temple will be on 22 January and has turned the odds in favour of Ram Temple. On the other hand, there has been a negative sentiment against Congress after its leadership refused to attend the ceremony,” Shukla stated.
He further emphasised that Congress is not only facing challenges due to its refusal to attend the consecration ceremony but also because of its silence on anti-Sanatan Dharm and anti-Hindu statements made by politicians within its allies.
Meanwhile, Kumar acknowledged that the Ram Temple poses a significant challenge for Congress, attributing this to the BJP effectively utilizing the consecration as its primary electoral tool.
“I see Ram Temple as the biggest challenge for the alliance because BJP uses the statement given by the members of alliance against it as the political tool. This also gives BJP a platform to polarise the voters in the name of religion,” he stated.
Alliance Leadership
The alliance has conducted multiple meetings, including the latest virtual session held last week. In this meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was designated as the chairperson of the alliance, with Bihar State Chief and Janata Dal United (JDU) chief Nitish Kumar appointed as the convenor.
However, Nitish Kumar declined to accept the post, expressing his willingness to do so only when all alliance members reach a consensus. It is noteworthy that only 14 out of the 26 parties within the alliance participated in the virtual meeting.
Shukla pointed out that the leadership of the alliance poses a significant challenge, given the absence of a prominent figure who can effectively contest elections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“If any political party wants to contest against Modi-led BJP they have to present a face who can give competition to the Prime Minister. As of now, there is no such face in the newly-formed opposition bloc,” he said.
However, Kumar emphasized that having a prominent face before elections is not crucial. He questioned why the BJP didn't follow this condition in the state assembly polls of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh.
"BJP is projecting Modi as a face because it wants to retain power, but did it adopt the same strategy in the state assembly polls where Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje were the state chief candidates?" he argued.
Kumar further stated that, for the alliance, formulating a strong strategy is more crucial than deciding on a face. Winning the elections should be the priority, and the choice of a face can be determined based on the number of seats won in the polls.