As India’s general elections enter their second month, most conventional expectations have already been turned on their heads.
Complacent pundits had long ago concluded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win comfortably. But in two phases of the seven-phase elections – with some 190 constituencies having already cast their votes – the situation no longer looks so simple.
India’s Autonomous Election Commission bans the publication of exit polls until all seven phases of voting are completed. (That happens on June 1, the results will be announced on June 4). But unofficial readings of voter sentiment strongly suggest that things are not going the way of the BJP. It seems the public simply hasn’t been given enough reason to vote for the party for a third time.
