About 150 hours’ election speech and over 1,000 questions: PM Modi’s marathon campaign sets a new record
New Delhi, May 30 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA):- Thursday (May 30) marks the culmination of about three-month long high-voltage campaign for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The ruling BJP as well as Opposition under the banner of INDIA bloc mounted a high-pitched poll battle to win over the electorate with Sankalp Patra and Nyay Patra. Moreover, the 2024 electioneering grabbed headlines, more for extensive campaigns by top leadership of parties rather than active mobilisation on the ground. A comparative analysis of the election campaign at regular intervals also showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading all the way against political rivals. While PM Modi held 4-5 election rallies and roadshows in a day, his rivals were seen doing just 2-3 poll events. With canvassing coming to a close on Thursday, PM Modi has set a sort of record in wooing the electorate with his 75-day extensive outreach programs via election rallies, public events, roadshows and interviews with TV channels and news publications. PM Modi’s marathon election campaign comprised of 206 public rallies and roadshows and 80 interviews, over a period of 75 days. The campaign for the 2024 Parliamentary elections kicked off on March 16 and concludes on May 30. The series of campaign events, including election rallies and roadshows by PM Modi makes it an average of three events per day. Breaking it down further, one gets to know that the Prime Minister spent close to more than 150 hours at the hustings in scorching heat and faced over 1,000 questions from media outlets either in the electoral arena or inside TV studios. Taking into account that the Prime Minister spoke for about 45 minutes at each election rally, 206 rallies would mean (206 x 45 = 9,270 minutes) about 154.5 hours, for which he addressed the electoral rallies. Considering the volley of questions to the Prime Minister in multiple half-hour and one-hour interactions with TV channels and news publications, he must have faced more than 1,000 questions and shared his views on all topics, as demanded by the Opposition. Such articulate interaction with the media and a wide-ranging campaign by PM Modi also left the Opposition flummoxed and flustered. PM Modi’s brisk and energetic campaigns took place across the country, with special emphasis on South India and saw him undertaking upto five events in a single day while doing four events on multiple days. He is understood to have done 5 events in at least three days while managing 4 events in more than 22 days. His campaign gathered more pace in May, as he covered 96 events alone this month. The Prime Minister’s big focus has been the ‘South Push’, which also became the big talking point, this election. Four big states of the Hindi heartland with maximum number of Lok Sabha MPs stood high on PM Modi’s list of priorities, as he spent most of his time campaigning in these states. PM Modi addressed maximum election rallies in Uttar Pradesh, the state which sends 80 MPs to Lok Sabha. The NDA won 64 seats in the state in 2019 polls and the BJP is hoping to raise its tally, this time. Bihar (40 Lok Sabha seats) and Bengal (42 Lok Sabha seats) were other states which saw multiple election rallies and roadshows by the Prime Minister, as the party hopes to increase and consolidate its vote share as well as seats in these states. PM Modi held 20 election events in Bihar and 18 in West Bengal. In Bihar, the BJP has vowed to win all 40 seats while looking to corner (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee in her turf by claiming 24-30 seats in the state. Maharashtra is the fourth state that saw repeated visits by the Prime Minister for election rallies. PM Modi almost doubled his election rallies and roadshows in the state, as compared to 2019 polls. Notably, Maharashtra with 48 Lok Sabha seats has made for an interesting clash as all eyes are on how the breakaway factions of Shiv Sena and NCP pose a challenge to the ‘original’ parties, helmed by party patriarchs. PM Modi also led from the front in BJP’s ‘South Push’ for 2024 elections and did at least 35 election events in five southern states, including Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. The BJP has been hoping to make deep inroads in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, making big gains in Karnataka while smelling an opportunity for the ‘best ever show’ in Telangana by tapping anti-incumbency sentiments. Eastern India has been of high focus for the BJP. PM Modi held 10 election rallies and roadshows in Odisha. This is another state where the BJP hopes to take the lion’s share of seats and end the BJD’s dominance. Jharkhand saw 7 events of the Prime Minister and the latter took every opportunity to hit hard at the rampant corruption under JMM rule, including the mountains of cash recovered from its minister’s aides. Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh saw five and four election rallies each, while Gujarat, the home state of PM Modi, witnessed five campaign events.
