Thread by @tajmahalfoxtrot

#LokSabha2024: The (not so) great Indian election. Our reporting in recent weeks has made it clear that something is deeply wrong with India's electoral machinery. A thread 🧵

Earlier this year, we promised to bring you the most diverse and crucial coverage of the Lok Sabha elections. Here’s what we’ve delivered ⤵️

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@tabassum_b and @Urban_Inquilabi
fact-checked five days of Narendra Modi’s poll speeches. In speech after speech, the prime minister has spread divisive falsehoods, pitting India’s Muslims against other disadvantaged communities.
scroll.in/article/106712…

@tabassum_b @Urban_Inquilabi In Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, poll officials and candidates linked with BJP-RSS are alleged to have impeded others trying to file their nominations.
@sighyush spoke to eight applicants who explained how the process was rigged.
scroll.in/article/106801…

In Amit Shah's constituency, three candidates said that they faced pressure to withdraw from the race. “...Democracy has been finished in this country," Jitendra Chauhan told @sighyush

He said “Amit Shah’s people” forced him to withdraw his candidature from Gandhinagar.scroll.in/article/106739…

In Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal, Muslim voters said that their identity cards and voting slips were snatched on the day of voting. They alleged that they were beaten up and forced to leave the poling booth without voting.

@sighyush reports
scroll.in/article/106769…

@sighyush “I feel the only shield we can have against BJP will be through having our elected members in Parliament." In Kashmir, voters, who shunned the ballot in the past, decided to use their democratic right to fight the Hindutva party.

@safwatzgr reports
scroll.in/article/106767…

In Indore, Congress' candidate Akshay Kanti Bam backed out and joined the BJP after an attempt to murder charge was added to a 17-year-old case involving Bam. …

“Before they were buying MLAs, now they are threatening them into withdrawing their nomination,” Jitu Patwari, Congress state president, told @tabassum_bscroll.in/article/106724…

In Gujarat, the BJP isn’t just aiming for hegemony. It wants complete control. But there are some Opposition leaders who are still putting up a fight.

@sharmasupriya reports
scroll.in/article/106747…

Ordinary citizens troubled by the instances of hate speech and violations of the model code of conduct tried to push the Election Commission to act.
But, as Scroll found out, the poll body's official channels to address complaints from ordinary voters were out of order.
@sighyush reportsscroll.in/article/106761…

A study by Modi’s Economic Advisory Council has mentioned data on rise in share of Muslim population. This was already known from the decadal Census. But the BJP leaders used the report to spread misleading claims.

@Urban_Inquilabi explains how.
scroll.in/article/106768…

@Urban_Inquilabi In Delhi, ordinary citizens flocked to the Opposition's rally. Their presence marked a growing disquiet over the state of Indian democracy now spilling over beyond India’s elite circles.

@sharmasupriya reportsscroll.in/article/1066040

@Urban_Inquilabi @sharmasupriya In Mathura, many Muslim voters claimed that they were denied their right to vote. By contrast, almost all Hindu residents of the temple town Scroll spoke to said that they did not face such problems.

@sighyush reports
scroll.in/article/106721…

Maharashtra's Beed, where the BJP is facing anti-incumbency, voters and opposition claimed that the polling booths were captured and voters were denied to cast their vote.
Polling agents from the opposition party also claimed that the many BJP workers voted through Aadhaar cards of deceased voters.@tabassum_breports.In
scroll.in/article/1068481

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