India’s 2024 Elections: Mapping the Implications for Human Rights and Democracy 
Date: 7 May 2024
Time: 17:00 – 19:00 
Location: Room 02.21, Leiden University College, Anna van Buerenplein 301, 2595 DH Den Haag 

From 19 April to 1 June, over 945 million people go to the polls in India for their general election. With a population of 1.4 billion, thousands of dialects, over 120 official languages, six major religions, and more than 1 million polling stations, the election has been named the biggest democratic exercise in history. The incumbent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is forecasted to maintain his spot.  However, there are fears that a win for Modi and his Hindu-first mandate will seriously undermine democracy in the diverse, secular country. Already now, there are serious concerns about India’s shrinking civic spaces and systematic persecution of religious minorities, civil society actors, human rights defenders, journalists and academics under the party’s counter-terror legislation. Due to these and other concerns, leading democracy institutes, such as the V-Dem Institute, no longer refer to India as a democracy but  as an “electoral autocracy.” Further concerns arise regarding the potential of this most recent election to be marred by hate speech and violence, as in past elections.  
 
On the occasion of India’s elections, members of the Indian diaspora are therefore bringing together a panel of experts to untangle what is at stake. They will examine questions such as:  
 
Can India still be called the “world’s largest democracy”?  
What are the rule of law and human rights concerns from the run-up to the elections until now? 
What are the potential human rights implications of a renewed term for the incumbent BJP? 
What are the implications of these concerns for the state of democracy internationally and the Indian diaspora in the Netherlands? 

The speakers list will be announced soon!