‘Neutral’, ‘liberal’,’secular’ YouTube journalists are Congress’ greatest asset—not workers or voters. After PM Modi’s arrival on national stage, those whose ideological establishments have been closed have now assembled on YouTube. Their daily routine consists of criticising PM Modi or the government after waking up, and indirectly or directly fostering an environment favourable to the Congress party. However, as the Lok Sabha election approaches, these “responsibilities” take on a greater significance.
There have been elections in five states recently, Telangana, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan. Two states were led by the Congress, one by the BJP, one by the MNF, and one by the BRS before the polls. Post-elections, three states will be ruled by the BJP, one by Congress, and one by ZPM. The BJP won Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, while the Congress won Telangana. Following the results, the only regional party that was in power was in Mizoram before and a regional party will continue to do so.
After these results, the analysis of the elections has now begun. The greatest thing about “analysis” is that if one says something with a little seriousness and confidence, there’s a good chance the audience will take it at face value. Gujarat’s “Journalist,” Senior Dr. Hari Desai, and his audience experienced this recently. He has a channel on YouTube named Dr. Hari Desai’s Satyam and Fact. Here, political analysis is carried out.
Hari Desai has demonstrated such “courage” in his election analysis once more recently, following the elections in five states. A 25-minute has been posted on the ‘senior journalist’s’ channel which is titled, “Why Did Congress Lose in the Recent Elections of Five States Despite Receiving 10 Lakh More Votes Than BJP”.
In the video, Haribhai gives statistics and says that BJP has won in three out of five states, but they have got 10 lakh less votes than Congress. Then they also provide state-wise figures for the ‘viewers’ benefit’. Which is as follows-
Madhya Pradesh
Congress- 1,75,71,582
BJP- 2,11,16,197
Chhattisgarh
Congress- 66,02,586
BJP- 72,34,968
Rajasthan
Congress- 1,56,67,947
BJP- 1,65,24,787
Telangana
Congress- 92,35,792
BJP- 32,57,511
Mizoram
Congress- 1,46,113
BJP- 35,524
With the help of these numbers, Dr Hari Desai claims that the Congress received 4 crores 92 lakh votes and the BJP received 4 crores 81 lakhs, meaning that the Congress received 10 lakhs 55 thousand 33 votes more than the Bharatiya Janata Party in all five states.
He continues his analysis of the defeat by pointing out that the Congress would have had a higher chance of winning if it had included the INDI coalition’s allies in its alliance. Haribhai has refrained from saying that the other parties have not engaged in much activity during this election.
He also addresses the topic of EVMs at the end of the video, but he does so in a manner that he both establishes his objectivity and advances the theory of EVM hacking. Without taking any party’s name, Hari Desai also said that parties blame EVMs for losing elections but they don’t care about the machines when they win.
In short, after watching and listening to this entire video, one is made to think about how did BJP won in three states despite getting 10 lakh less votes by Congress. Such ‘analysis’ makes people frame their opinions against the winning party by feeding their brains with assumptions that say the BJP has tampered with the EVMs.
Hari Desai has forgotten soomething, so we say it in the larger public interest
When adding up the votes from all five states, it is true that the BJP received 10 lakh fewer votes than the Congress in this case. The figures given by Haribhai are available on the Election Commission’s website, so he is not wrong in that. But let us reveal to you what he did not say, though.
According to the data, the Congress receives fewer votes in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan than the BJP. However, there is a significant disparity in the votes cast for the two parties in the state of Telangana since the BJP only has eight seats while the Congress has 64. As a result, there is a significant difference in the number of votes cast as well as in the seats they won. However, the difference between the seats that the two parties won in the other three states (except Telangana) is comparatively smaller.
In Telangana, the BJP received 32 lakh votes while the Congress received 92 lakh. That is sixty lakh votes difference. Though the difference is not as great as it is in Telangana, the BJP has more votes in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan. In Chhattisgarh, the margin is 6 lakh votes, while in Rajasthan, it is 9 lakh votes, and this difference is 36 lakhs in MP.
Accordingly, the votes of Telangana will be added when the votes from the five states are totaled, increasing the total number of votes for Congress. It’s just math, nothing complicated. There isn’t a mistake in the computation or a problem with the EVMs, it is common sense.
Haribhai and his supporters need to understand the difference between ‘truth’ and ‘fact’ and pay some attention to mathematics. If this continues, after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Haribhai and his supporters may also say that Rahul Gandhi got more votes from Wayanad than Modi got from Varanasi, yet why is Modi being made the Prime Minister?
