From 19 April to 1 June 2024, 969 million Indian voters will elect a new parliament. This is expected to be the world’s largest and most expensive electoral exercise, where social media and AI are also expected to play a major role in electoral campaigning and voter outreach. Official results will be published on 4 June. Although the Indian elections have had surprising results in the past, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely expected to maintain its majority in the lower house of the parliament.

What does a third term for the BJP government mean for Indian democracy, its foreign relations, and ties with Germany? Will Indian elections also foretell trends in the use of AI for elections in 2024? GIGA researchers discuss these and other questions with the chair of the German-Indian Parliamentary Friendship Group, Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU), and Deutsche Welle’s former India correspondent, Nimisha Jaiswal.

Speakers:

• Ralph Brinkhaus is a Member of the German Bundestag (CDU) and Chair of the German-Indian parliamentary friendship group.
• Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra is a Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute for Asian Studies.
• Dr. Johannes Plagemann is a Senior Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute for Asian Studies.

Moderator:

Nimisha Jaiswal is a journalist at Deutsche Welle, Berlin.