Feel the Issues That Citizens Face

BY SANJEEB KUMAR SAHOO

Respected citizens of India, Before leaving this world forever, a lady, the lovely daughter of a late Army officer, told me, “I will never leave you. I will always be there with you. So, every time you breathe, I will breathe too. Whenever the wind blows, it’s me, stroking your hair. Whenever it rains, that’s me kissing your cheek. Every time you touch the ground, that’s me holding your hand. When you’re sad, I will be sad too.”

She also said, “Sanjeeb, you can just imagine my smiling face and my eyes, and you will always be able to see your happy face in my eyes when you feel too sad and alone.” That’s why I always smile for her. She also told me that every time you write, I’ll be the pen that helps you write a great story that many people will want to read. Don’t forget about me.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as I promised in the June 11, 2024 edition, I would write tales in the next edition of NPP on all four states, including Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim, where assembly votes were held in June but counted on June 2. The votes for the Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim were counted on June 2, while the votes for the general election to the Lok Sabha 2024 and the elections for the State Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha were counted on June 4, 2024.

Before I go any further, I’d like to remind you that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to elect the 543 members of the 18th Lok Sabha, as well as the Assembly elections in four states—Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh—were held peacefully in seven phases across the country from April 19 to June 1.

Respected citizens, I was sick for three days while finishing this issue. On the first day, things were really bad for me, but I didn’t tell anyone. Even though I live alone in Delhi, my mother might have been worried if I had told her because she lives in a village in Odisha with my sister. She would have come to my house by any means necessary, but I didn’t want that because my older sister is a teacher and lives with my mother and her son. My elder sister has a deep bond with my mother, and I don’t want to separate them, even for a second, because my father died when I was three years old and my mother was ten months pregnant. Since childhood, my older sister has had a great connection with our mother, which I have always loved.

Even though I was unable to get out of bed due to a high fever, I woke up because I had to feed over 100 birds every day that came to my house for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. So I woke up in the morning, as I do every day, and fed them. After that, I felt better. I then cleaned their area with water where they eat, drink, and play. They are like small babies, and you know how babies litter the places where they eat, drink, and play. I gladly clean their area because I love caring for them.

The moral of the story is that whenever I’m sick, God’s angels start loudly “chirping” and saying “it’s morning” in their own language. And believe me, when I heard their “chirping,” I immediately woke up. I also believe that birds’ “chirping” is a form of nonverbal communication, as taught by my teacher when I was studying journalism at the world’s top journalistic institute.

Esteemed chief ministers of four states, as I wanted to tell you all via my personal narrative, you all need to feel the needs of the people so that you may fully fulfill the promises you made to your people during election rallies.

For example, if you are hearing people’s grievances during your monthly Chief Minister’s Janata Darbar programme and someone comes to your Darbar with their problem, imagine that you are the victim for a second. Within that second, you can feel their true issue, and I am confident that you will resolve it in minutes.

My intentions are clear: needy people are more important to newly appointed Chief Ministers than anyone else. So, simply feel their problems and solve them to eradicate poverty from society completely.

Respected voters, let us discuss this edition. I have included pictures of all candidates who won and lost the polls so that voters can see how many votes were received by candidates on both sides in the assembly elections.

However, I have included all the details in the stories. Here, I am explaining the state assembly results in brief, as well as some information about the Lok Sabha elections in four states, which will be useful to you in the future.

Respected readers, let us begin with Sikkim, where the regional party Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) regained power by winning 31 of the state’s 32 seats. Sikkim has only one Lok Sabha seat, which was also won by the SKM, which won the assembly elections.

Since 1980, no national party has won a Lok Sabha seat from the Sikkim Lok Sabha constituency. Congress had won the seat for the first time in 1977, but since then, national political parties have struggled to win the Sikkim Lok Sabha seat. Indra Hang Subba, the candidate for the SKM, won the Sikkim Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In Odisha, the BJP ousted the BJD, which had ruled the state for the past 24 years, and swept to power. After the BJP’s landslide victory, the world’s largest political party formed its first government in Odisha.

In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJP won 78 seats. 51 seats went to the BJD. Naveen Patnaik, the BJD president, won the Hinjili Assembly seat but lost the Kantabanji seat. Congress won 14 seats, while the CPI (M) won one. Independent candidates won three seats.

In the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections, the NDA alliance of the TDP, BJP, and Janasena won 164 seats. The TDP won 135 Assembly seats out of 175, Janasena 21, and the BJP eight. The YSRCP, on the other hand, could only get 11.

Meanwhile, the BJP returned to power in Arunachal Pradesh for the third time in a row, winning 46 of the assembly’s 60 seats and securing a majority. However, votes were counted in 50 assembly segments in the northeastern state during the Lok Sabha elections on April 19. The saffron party won the remaining ten seats uncontested. The BJP won 36 of the 50 seats, with 10 candidates elected unopposed, including Chief Minister Pema Khandu.

My honourable citizens, I feel sorry for Naveen Patnaik’s BJD and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP, which were among the parties that stood firmly behind the Narendra Modi-led NDA government in its second term without forming a formal alliance with the BJP, as Naveen Patnaik’s party was defeated by the BJP in Odisha and Jagan’s YSRCP was defeated by the NDA alliance led by the TDP in Andhra Pradesh.

However, in the Odisha assembly elections, the BJD’s vote share currently stands at 40.22 percent, while the BJP’s is at 40.07 percent.

Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, the TDP, a BJP ally, defeated the YSRCP by capturing 135 of 175 assembly seats and 45.6 percent of the vote, compared to the YSRCP’s 11 seats and 39 percent vote. The YSRCP had swept the 2019 assembly elections, obtaining 151 seats against the TDP’s 23. In the simultaneous Lok Sabha elections that year, it won 22 of the state’s 25 seats, while the TDP won only three.

Because I am aware of how exit polls are conducted by any organization, I have never believed in them and will never do so. I will write about it in future editions and be more creative. Because I believe in faith, not hope.

Note: On June 12, 2024, this editorial was originally published in a weekly magazine of National Political Mirror.