India: Is democracy under threat?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 22 April 2024
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
2024 is the year of elections. According to one estimate just under 50% of all the people on earth live in countries where by December 31st there will have been a national vote. In terms of population size there are none bigger than the six week exercise that got underway last Friday. The world’s biggest democracy - India - has gone to the polls and prime minister Narendra Modi is hoping – perhaps expecting – to win a third term. He first came to power in 2014 and since then fears about “democratic backsliding” have been growing. So how concerned about that should we be? Step inside The Briefing Room and together we’ll find out.
Guests:
Yogita Limaye, BBC's South Asia Correspondent Rohan Venkat, editor of “India Inside Out” newsletter Louise Tillin, Professor of Politics in the India Institute at King’s College London Chietigj Bajpaee, senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House.
Production team: Rosamund Jones and Ben Carter Editor: Richard Vadon Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Sound engineers: Hal Haines and Sarah Hockley
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.3 | 2024 is the year of elections. |
| 0:12.8 | According to one estimate, just under 50% of all the people on earth |
| 0:16.3 | live in countries where by December the 31st, there will have been a national vote. |
| 0:21.5 | In terms of population size, there are none bigger than the six-week exercise that got underway last Friday. |
| 0:28.5 | The world's biggest democracy, India, is right now going to the polls, |
| 0:32.9 | and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hoping, perhaps expecting, to win a third term. He first came to power |
| 0:39.6 | in 2014 and since then fears about democratic backsliding have been growing. So how concerned |
| 0:46.4 | about that should we be? Step inside the briefing room and together we'll find out. |
| 0:54.0 | Let's start with some basic facts about India's democracy. With me is the BBC South |
| 0:59.8 | Asia correspondent, Yogi Tili Maya, in Delhi. Yogi Tili Maya, how many people have the right to vote in |
| 1:06.6 | India? The electorate, the last time around, was about 910 million voters. Anybody who is at the age of 18 or older is allowed to vote in India. The number 910 million actually comes from the Election Commission based on how many people have come and registered as voters. This time we'll know the exact number when the Election Commission announces the election, |
| 1:32.1 | which is expected to be early in March. |
| 1:35.4 | But it is estimated to be roughly around 950 million. |
| 1:40.3 | 950 million. |
| 1:41.5 | And how many MPs are there in the lower house? |
| 1:45.3 | There are 543 parliamentary constituencies, people who are elected to the lower house of parliament. |
| 1:52.4 | What does that make the size in terms of electors of the average constituency? |
| 1:56.6 | There are constituencies in India, which would have millions of people in one single parliamentary |
| 2:02.1 | constituency. But then you'd also have quite rural areas of the country, areas that are covered |
| 2:08.5 | in forests, where that electorate would be down to sort of, you know, tens of thousands. |
| 2:14.5 | Right. Okay. So they're actually very different sizes, some of them, and some of them are |
... |
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