Summary: In episode 5 of Business Standard’s podcast on politics, the Chessboard, Ankur Bhardwaj and Archis Mohan discuss the four phases of voting, the BJP’s mojo and the violent nature of politics in West Bengal Nearly all of south and west of India has voted. In the east only West Bengal has not completed polling yet. With mostly north Indian and Hindi speaking states going to vote in the coming three phases, how is the chessboard of Indian politics placed? 375 seats have now voted. Less than 200 remain and mostly in territory that was completely dominated by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014. Has the BJP regained its mojo? West Bengal sends 42 members to the Lok Sabha. The Trinamool Congress won 34 of these. Congress party won 4. The CPM had 2 while the BJP also had 2. Voting in the state is accompanied by violence. What explains this violent streak of Bengali politics? For more on all of these questions, tune in.
