Opinion | Modi’s return to power would not mean the death of Indian democracy

According to India’s opposition politicians, the country’s democracy is on its deathbed. Congress party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said last month that “democracy will end” if Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power for a third consecutive term.

However, as India’s seven-stage polls, the world’s largest electoral exercise, approach their climax – with the results due to be announced on June 4 – it is apparent that Indian democracy is more robust than initially perceived.

While the outcome seems a foregone conclusion – re-election for Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the polls have yet thrown up a few surprises. There has been speculation that voter turnout is lower than anticipated, which has been attributed to everything from the weather to voter apathy.

The drop has not been significant, but it has been enough to fuel fears within the ruling BJP that it may not secure its targeted 370 seats (400 with coalition partners). It has also prompted BJP candidates (including Modi) to double down on the party’s divisive Hindu nationalist rhetoric.

Despite the government’s ambitions to centralise power, the election has reaffirmed the idea that “all politics is local”, with regional politics and livelihood issues dominating campaigns. That recent state elections have seen fewer recounts or complaints about vote rigging or manipulation also reaffirms that Indian democracy remains intact at a procedural level.