DC Edit | A long, acrimonious campaign will end today

One of the longest and most acrimonious election campaigns in recent history is coming to a close with the loudspeakers falling silent on Thursday ahead of the seventh and final phase of voting for the 18th Lok Sabha scheduled on June 1. It would indeed be remarkable if the election produces a result that will allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi a third term, which no Prime Minister other than Jawaharlal Nehru has managed so far. It would also be a repeat of history if the ruling front is sent packing by the people for wrongly reading their mood.One of the key elements of the campaign none could miss is the shift to the hyper-local from the national which was earlier the norm. But this time, although the National Democratic Alliance and its leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi started off the campaign with “Modi’s guarantees” and the promise of taking India to the status of the world’s third largest economy should they secure a third term, they dropped that agenda midway and switched to the beaten path of Hindutva.As for the opposition INDIA bloc, it never had a national narrative or a common minimum programme to begin with, most of its partners including the Congress coming up with their own individual manifestos. Whether that sales push was effective or not would only become clear come June 4.Some of the usual acrimonies germane to electioneering apart, the 2024 campaign will nevertheless go down in history for the brazen attempts made by the ruling front, led by none lesser than the Prime Minister, to sell its divisive agenda in violation of the law and the Model Code of Conduct, and the deafening silence of the Election Commission.