Voters are set to cast their ballots to elect their preferred political alliance to power in just 23 days from now. This is a monumental election by every count and one with an unprecedented impact on polity, the aspirational society and the fate of important parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s fabled poll machinery that works tirelessly round the year is gaining rapid momentum.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has traversed the vast lengths and breadths of the country, visiting temples, meeting voters and expressing confidence that his National Democratic Alliance government will get more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Forget campaigning in full force, the Congress, which is primarily responsible for the fate of the INDIA bloc in this election (simply because it is the largest party and the main rival of the BJP in 6 states), is struggling with the candidate list.

Congress changes its Jaipur candidate

The Congress party replaced Sunil Sharma, its controversial candidate from Jaipur, with Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, a former Rajasthan minister who has been a spokesperson of the state unit and is the party president of Jaipur district.

A controversy erupted after Sharma was given a ticket from Jaipur in an earlier list. His critics pointed to Sharma’s long association with Jaipur Dialogues, an organisation critical of the party and its leaders, particularly Rahul Gandhi, none less than CWC member Shashi Tharoor raised a red flag.

“He must have undergone some sort of Pauline epiphany on the road to 24 Akbar! This is just one of several dozen tweets from his handle attacking me,” Tharoor wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after Sharma’s nomination.

Naveen Jindal leaves Congress for BJP

There is no end to leaders leaving the Congress for BJP. Be it for cases filed against them or simply as a political move to jump off a sinking ship.

In the past 10 years, a number of Congress leaders who quit the party and joined the BJP have been handsomely rewarded. The latest is Naveen Jindal. He was a Congress MP from 2004 to 2014 but better known as the man who fought a court case to win the right for everyone to display the Tricolour everyday at home or other places.

Grappling with the latest exit weeks before the election, the Congress taunted PM Modi for making the largest Opposition party corruption-mukt. Congress’ communications head Jairam Ramesh on Sunday mentioned how Modi wanted a Congress-free India, but thanks to such moves by the PM, the grand old party now had ‘no corrupt member’ in its ranks.

Two months ago, another well-known young leader, Milin Deora, left the Congress to join Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena (the Eknath Shinde faction).

The Congress is, however, unable to explain why leaders such as Jyotiraditya Scindia, Deora, Jitin Prasada, RPN Singh — who were close friends of Rahul Gandhi — have left the party. When Scindia quit the Congress in 2020, Gandhi had predicted that he will return in six months.

Kangana vs Congress

National award-winning actor Kangana Ranaut has finally got a ticket to fight the Lok Sabha election from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. The Congress, trying to settle scores with Ranaut, who had been a bitter critic of the Opposition for the past few years, tried to launch an attack but it has badly boomeranged.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has, through a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI), called for ‘strict action’ against Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate and party leader HS Ahir for their “lewd and derogatory” social media posts against the actress, it said on Monday.

The controversy began on Monday after a post from the Instagram handle of Supriya Shrinate, the social media in-charge of the Congress. “Can someone tell what is the current rate in Mandi (market)?” the post read. It was made next to a picture of the actor, who has been fielded by the BJP from the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency in Himachal Pradesh, her home state.

Shrinate, however, gave the excuse that many people have access to her Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Key contests in LS polls

While the BJP has announced more than 350 candidates, the Congress has managed to clear names only for just over 200 seats. But the candidates announcement has already set stage for a high-octane contest this election summer. (Some key contests to look out for)

AAP launches DP campaign

Weeks before the election, the biggest leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED — a huge blow to the party’s anti-corruption image and also its prospects for the elections.

AAP on Monday launched a social media ‘DP (display picture)’ campaign over Kejriwal’s arrest in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

Leaders and volunteers have changed their profile picture on X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social media accounts with the one displaying Kejriwal behind bars. The picture also has the text ‘Modi Ka Sabse Bada Dar Kejriwal (Modi’s biggest fear is Kejriwal)’ written on it.