The 2024 general election campaign has been marked by intense mudslinging, media misrepresentations and sharp ideological battles

With the conclusion of the 7th phase of the voting on Saturday, the long drawn-out Great Election Festival has come to an end. The results of the polls would be announced on Tuesday and the winner would be asked by the President to form the new Government. If a party fails to cross the halfway mark on its own, we will see a coalition government consisting of parties with different ideologies but united in their hatred for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The electioneering of 2024 was nothing other than calling names and distortion statements made by Prime Minister Modi. The misrepresentation of facts by the media has fueled anger among various communities. When the bugle for the electoral battle was sounded by the Election Commission of India, there was no agenda in the BJP's game plan to amend the Constitution. But its rivals were unanimous in their aggressive campaign that if the BJP wins this time, there would not be any more elections in the country and the Constitution would be thrown to the dustbin.

Rahul Gandhi, the Prime Minister in waiting, went one step further and declared that the BJP would cancel once and forever the reservation meant for scheduled caste/scheduled tribe and the OBC. Though this was refuted by the BJP camp, the notion in Kerala and Tamil Nadu was that Modi was against reservation of any kind. Meanwhile, leaders of Congress, CPI(M) and like-minded parties blamed Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar for the scorching summer as well as the draught that has struck South India. Then came the heavy downpour and upper-level cyclonic circulation in Kerala. The Congress and CPI(M) found Modi as the scapegoat for this too. The contents of the interview given by the Prime Minister to a TV channel too were distorted by the Opposition leaders who accused the former of claiming himself as God.

But what he told in the interview was that he saw the 140 crore Indians as his Gods and he was worshipping them. These are unpardonable sins. Election speeches were a learning process for ordinary mortals. The national and State level leaders of various political outfits enlighten the voters about the failures committed by the parties that ruled the country in different times while the party that was born to rule India would shock the electorate with what they have done to make India what it is now. Though the eminent historian R C Majumdar has edited an XI volume series "The History and Culture of Indian People" which was published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan at the instance of Kulapati Dr K M Munshi, the same has been declared as an "untouchable product" by the Leftist historians of the country. The Leftists and the GOP have a lot to hide and we will come back to that on another occasion.

The 2024 General Election was an event that the voters would prefer to forget at the earliest. The electioneering should never be a name-calling exercise and the media should know its role as an observer. The guiding principle of journalism, as coined by C P Scott, late editor of The Guardian, was "facts are sacred but opinions are free".

But in present-day journalism, this law has degenerated and it has become facts and opinions are free. If one is to go by the news and opinions of most newspapers, the INDI Alliance has already won the election and it is a matter of time before the new government is sworn in. The opinion polls and surveys have become a butt of jokes.

Now that the last vote has been cast, the only option is to wait till 4 June 2024 to know which way the wind has blown. Newspapers and News Channels should not take sides in this contest of democracy. No doubt, the claim "my kurta is whiter than his" extends to politics. But it should not lead to an exercise of abusing and belittling the rivals. The speeches delivered by some of the leading lights of the main political parties were deplorable and despicable. The portrayal of Mukhtar Ansari, a dreaded criminal and mafia don, as Shaheed by Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of AIMIM was a shocking incident. We address Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad as shaheeds but this is the first time a mafia don has been accorded the status of Shaheed.

Some of the leaders who constitute the INDI Alliance applaud a person convicted to life imprisonment in the fodder scam as the most honest politician in the country even though the latter is out on bail claiming serious medical ailments. The Porsche car mishap that claimed two lives in Pune is further proof that the BJP cannot escape from the allegations of favouritism. The Hindutva brigade is the alliance partner of the government in Maharashtra in which the NCP has a major stake. Only people with knowledge, wisdom and a clean image should win the election and assume power at the Centre. Convicts and mafia dons should not have any place in this electoral battle. Above all, it is for the Election Commission to elevate the quality of the electoral game to that of a royal event. There is no space for anti-social and anti-national elements in this jamboree where people are the masters. Let the electorate have the last word.

(The writer is a special correspondent with the Pioneer, views are personal)