Why Isn’t India Painting By the Numbers?
As the country’s massive election continues, a sensitive question arises over its “real GDP.”
A mural urging people to head for the polls in India’s general election.
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This week, the election that’s taken center stage is the one UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has scheduled for July 4. My colleagues Adrian Wooldridge, John Authers, Martin Ivens and Matthew Brooker have weighed in on it here, here, here and here. However, a more momentous one is still ongoing: that would be in India, the world’s biggest democracy. The process started on April 19 and will keep going till June 1 so that the country’s electorate of 969 million can cast their ballots. You’d think there’d be some kind of running tally, but the results will not be declared until June 4. For now, it’s all about invisible statistics, including a controversy over election transparency that’s reached the country’s highest court. The raw turn-out numbers used to be released as a matter of rote. India’s election commission has found excuses not to do so, offering only percentages. That’s led to anxiety among those who’ve bet that the ruling party is going to win big. Says Andy Mukherjee: “If the nervousness in the stock market is anything to go by, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bid for a third term doesn’t appear to be as secure as it did earlier this year.”