Is Prime Minister Modi’s ruling party making the electoral playing field too uneven?

India will elect a new parliament between April 19 and June 1, but have all the preconditions been met for fair elections, with equal opportunities for all participants? This question arises after testimonies such as that of Haresh Savakara (41) from the state of Gujarat. The farmer, a member of the lowest caste, told investigative news site The Quint that “his family was tricked into donating to the ruling party BJP”. The Quint relied on bank statements and documents of Savakara and six family members. They all filed a complaint with the police.

The problems started when the family sold their land to a large holding company for more than 1 million euros. That holding is closely intertwined with the Hindu nationalist rulers, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An executive at that company claimed the family would “lose way too much money in taxes.” The company and a local BJP party secretary came up with a solution. “They said we could invest the money in an electoral savings bond. This way we would pay less taxes and get more revenue in a few years,” said Savakara.

In fact, that ‘electoral savings certificate’ is a donation. It is not an investment and you do not receive any interest. On October 16, 2023, the BJP collected the Savakaras’ check from the State Bank of India.

“We are illiterate people,” Savakara said. “We didn’t know this system well and it all sounded very convincing.” The BJP denies, but The Quint has conducted years of groundbreaking research into those electoral savings bonds. In February, India’s highest court ruled that this form of party financing was unconstitutional and abolished it. Ever since the State Bank of India had to release the registers, one story after another has emerged about the shady financing of politics.

Slur for progressives

The BJP made a small fortune from it. As many as 65 percent of all donations between 2013 and 2023 went to Hindu nationalists, worth at least $987 million. The centre-left Congress Party, the biggest challenger, received 11 percent, with regional parties the rest. Critics called the system a form of legal bribery. This was evident from the behavior of donors. For example, businessman Martin Santiago, lottery ticket seller and involved in numerous legal disputes, has supported both left-wing and right-wing parties in recent years.

“The controversy is hurting the more progressive parties, regional players and the opposition more than the BJP,” said political scientist Vignesh Karthik from India. The standard. “The BJP voter is less concerned about this. Voters who are more likely to be left-wing demand higher standards from their party. This counts as a stigma and the BJP is also attacking the opposition for it.”

Rule through raids

33 companies bagged 172 government contracts or projects after donating to the BJP. But this did not give the companies power over the BJP, on the contrary. As many as 41 companies paid a combined $310 million to the BJP after raids on their offices by the police or tax authorities. For example, the ruling party gave rich Indians a ‘nudge’ towards donations through intimidation. “The BJP is the largest extortion cartel in the world,” concluded Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi.

In recent years, Modi’s government has often sent officials or tax inspectors to ‘difficult’ NGOs at home and abroad. “It is an exercise of power through raids, and the whole of India is now used to it,” says journalist Praneet Pathak at the news site TheWire. “The investigations always concern critics or opponents, the ruling party remains out of harm’s way. Rarely do such investigations lead to an effective conviction in court.” The Indian civil service even started such a criminal tax investigation against the Congress Party, barely two months before the elections.

Follow voters with app

All that money allowed the BJP to build an efficient influence machine. “The images of the BJP’s election meetings are telling,” says Karthik. “They bring tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people together in large-scale rallies all over the country. All visitors receive food and all kinds of merchandising.” Furthermore, the BJP has money to maintain an army of local teams and militants. These party soldiers can ‘work’ families on the ground, such as the Savakaras.

Even more crucial is purchasing an online presence. In the first three months of this year, the BJP emerged as the largest political advertiser on Google and Meta. The average Indian voter has low literacy and is sensitive to visual propaganda. In previous elections, it was not uncommon for individuals to see around 120 pro-BJP messages per day.

Now it appears that the BJP has gone one step further, with its own party app. It can measure per location how many people respond enthusiastically to Modi’s speeches. Where the app registers less enthusiasm, party workers are sent on a campaign to step up their game. The app is called Saral (Sangathan Reporting and Analysis). “I went door to door to get 600 people to download the app,” a BJP party militant told the Indian news site Rest of the World.

Saral collects an exceptional amount of data about users. This is how they register their social security code, their caste and religion. The boundary between the apps of government services and Saral is deliberately kept vague. “The technology allows the BJP to appeal to voters almost on a micro scale, with a message tailored to their caste or religion,” writes Rest of the World.

“Indian authorities have increasing control over online platforms and have collected massive amounts of personal data with which they can direct the campaign,” Human Rights Watch also warns. “That makes the playing field uneven.”