The Election Commission of India is an autonomous, constitutionally established federal authority

responsible for administering all the electoral processes in the Republic of India. Under the
supervision of the commission, free and fair elections have been held in India at regular intervals as
per the principles enshrined in the Constitution. The Election Commission has the power of
superintendence, direction and control of all elections to the Parliament of India and the state
legislatures and of elections to the office of the President of India and the Vice-President of India.
The power of superintendence, direction and control of all elections to the Local
Government/Municipal Corporation by the State Election Commission.The Chief Election
Commissioner can be removed from his office by Parliament with two-thirds majority in Lok
Sabha and Rajya Sabha on the grounds of proven misbehaviour or incapacity. Other Election
Commissioners can be removed by the President on the recommendation of the Chief Election
Commissioner. The Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners draw salaries
and allowances at par with those of the Judges of the Supreme Court of India as per the Chief
Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Conditions of Service) Rules,
1992.
[3]
The current CEC is V. S. Sampath.
Sukumar Sen was an Indian civil servant who was the first Chief Election Commissioner of India
Use of Scientific and Technological Advancements[edit]
The Election Commission had tried to bring improvements in election procedures by introduction of
EVM Electronic Voting Machines. It was thought that EVMs would reduce malpractices and
improve efficiency. It was first tried out on an experimental basis in the state of Kerala for the 1982
Legislative Assembly Elections. After successful testing and legal inquires, the Commission took the
decision to begin the use of EVMs.
[4]
The Election Commission launched a web site of its own on 28
February 1998. It helps to provide accurate information, management, administration and also
instant results of the elections. In 1998, Election Commission decided on a programme for the
'computerisation' of the electoral rolls.In an effort to prevent electoral fraud, in 1993 EPICs
Electorals Photo Identity Cards were issued. In the 2004 elections, it was mandatory to possess the
card.
Multi-Member Commission
Originally the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. But, two additional
Commissioners were appointed to the commission for the first time on 16 October 1989 but they had
a very short tenure till 1 January 1990. The Election Commissioner Amendment Act, 1993 made
Election Commission to be multi member body. Later, on 1 October 1993, two additional Election
Commissioners were appointed. The concept of multi-member Commission has been in operation
since then, with decision making power by majority vote.
[4]

Functions and powers
Guardian of Free and Fair Elections
One of the most important features of the democratic polity is elections at regular
intervals.Democracy is the Government of the people, By the people, And for the people".Holding
periodic free & fair elections are essentials of democratic system. It is part of basic structure of the
Constitution which has been held in T. N. Sheshan V/s Union of India.
[5]
The Commission has taken
many efforts for the success of elections and thereby democracy.
Model Code of Conduct[
The Election Commission is regarded as guardian of free and fair elections. In every election, it
issues a Model code of Conduct for political parties and candidates to conduct elections in a free
and fair manner. The Commission issued the code for the first time in 1971 (5th Election) and
revised it from time to time. It lay down guidelines for conduct of political parties & candidates during
elections. However, there are instances of violation of code by the political parties and complaints
are received for misuse of official machinery by the candidates.In I.D. Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. v/s.
Chief Election Commissioner,
[6]
the Kerala High Court held that the object of model code of conduct
is not to stop all governmental activities but only those actions which may directly influence a section
of electors need to be prevented.The need for such code is in the interest of free and fair elections.
However, the code does not have any specific statutory basis. It has only a persuasive effect. It
contains what, known as "rules of electoral morality". But this lack of statutory backing does not
prevent the Commission from enforcing it.
Registration of Political Parties[edit]
A law regarding to this registration process was enacted in 1989 and number of parties got
registered with Commission.
[7]
It helps to avoid confusion and headache of the administrative
machinery as well as confusion of the electorate. It ensures that political parties can practice
democracy only by their registration.
Limits on Poll Expenses[edit]
To get rid of the growing influences and vulgar show of money during elections the Election
Commission has made many suggestions in this regard. The Election Commission has fixed the
legal limits on the amount of money which a candidate can spend during election campaigns. These
limits have been revised from time to time. The Election Commission by appointing observers keeps
an eye on the individual account of election expenditure. The contestants are also required to give
details of expenditure with 30 days of declaration of results. However, political parties do not adhere
to the financial Lakshman Rekha as huge amount are spent by parties under the garb of their
supporters.The campaign period was reduced by the Election Commission from 21 to 14 days for
Lok Sabha and Assembly elections; it is for to trim down election expenditure. The Election
Commissions this attempt to impose these measures has been a move in the right direction.
Moreover, Election Commission takes details of the candidate's asset on affidavit at the time of
submitting nomination paper.
In Common Cause v/s. Union of India, it was pointed out that, in India elections are fought on the
basis of money. The Court ruled that, purity of election is fundamental to the democracy and
Commission can ask the candidates about the expenditure incurred by them and political party for
this purpose.
Prohibition on Publication[edit]
The Commission can issue an order for prohibition of publication and disseminating of
results of opinion polls (Exit Polls).
[8]

Criticism[edit]
The Election Commission of India came into severe criticism when a RTI by disability activist
Dr Satendra Singh revealed it's ill-preparedness to safeguard electors with disabilities in General
Elections 2014.
[9]
There were many violations of Supreme Court order from 2014 to enfranchise
persons with disabilities.
[10]

The Chief Election Commissioner heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally
empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and state legislatures. Chief Election
Commissioner of India is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly from the Indian
Administrative Service. It is very difficult to remove the authority of the Chief Election Commissioner
once elected by the President, as two-thirds of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha need to vote
against him for disorderly conduct or improper actions.
Despite the recent changes in the hierarchy, the system always had powers to impose unambiguous
rules and guidelines that applied across the entire nation e.g. as to how the ballots will be cast and
counted, what will be regarded as 'unqualified' vote (something whose importance became very
evident during US presidential election in 2000). India was probably one of the first countries in the
World to go for a completely electronic ballot in the last elections. What made this remarkable was
the fact that the Office of the Chief Election Commissioner had successfully implemented this across
the entire diverse Indian population that also consisted of the rural illiterate people.
While the office has always been an important one in the machinery of the Indian political process, it
gained significant public attention during the tenure of T.N. Seshan, from 1990-1996. Mr. Seshan is
widely credited with undertaking a zealous effort to end corruption and manipulation in Indian
elections. Though he made significant progress, several politicians attempted to derail these efforts.
In particular, the expansion of the Election Commission to include the two Election Commissioners
(in addition to the Chief Commissioner) was seen as a move to curtail the commissioner's ability to
act aggressively.
Narendra modhi
Narendra Damodardas Modi ( ( listen), born 17 September
1950) is the 15th and current Prime Minister of India. Modi, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), also served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 200114. He is currently the Member
of Parliament (MP) for the Varanasi constituency.
Modi was a key strategist for the BJP in the successful 1995 and 1998 Gujaratstate election
campaigns. He became Chief Minister of Gujarat in October 2001 and served longer in that position
than anyone else to date. Modi was a major campaign figure in the 2009 general election, which the
BJP-led National Democratic Alliance lost to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance(UPA). He
led the BJP in the 2014 general election, which resulted in an outright majority for the BJP in the Lok
Sabha (the lower house of the Indian parliament) the last time that any party had secured an
outright majority in the Lok Sabha was in 1984.
Modi is a Hindu Nationalist and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
[2][3]
He is a
controversial figure both within India as well as internationally
[4][5][6][7]
as his administration has been
criticised for the incidents surrounding the 2002 Gujarat riots.
[7][8]
Modi has been praised for his
economic policies, which are credited with creating an environment for a high rate of economic
growth in Gujarat.
[9]
However, his administration has also been criticised for failing to make a
significant positive impact upon the human development of the state.
[10]

Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers belonging to the backwardGhanchi-
Teli (oil-presser) community, in Vadnagar inMehsana district of erstwhileBombay State (present-day
Gujarat), India.
[11][12][13][14]
He was the third of four children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and
his wife, Heeraben.
[15]
He helped his father sell tea at Vadnagar railway station. As a child and as a
teenager, he ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus.
[16][17]
In 1967, he completed
hisschooling in Vadnagar, where a teacher described him as being an average student, but a keen
debater who had an interest in theatre.
[16][18]

That interest has influenced how he now projects himself in politics.
[19]
At the age of eight, Modi
came in contact with RSS and he began attending its local shakhas where he came in contact with
Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, who is known as his political guru and
mentor. Inamdar inducted Modi as a balswayamsevak, a junior cadet in RSS. During his morning
exercise session at the keri pitha shakha of RSS, he also came in contact with Vasant
Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, leaders of the Jan Sangh who later founded the BJP's Gujarat
state unit in 1980.
[20][21][22][23][24][25]

Modi's parents arranged his marriage as a child, in keeping with the traditions of the Ghanchi caste.
He was engaged at the age of 13 to Jashodaben Chimanlal and the couple were married by the time
he was 18. They spent very little time together and were soon estranged because Modi decided to
pursue an itinerant life,
[16][26]
and reportedly the marriage was never consummated.
[27]
Modi kept the
marriage secret for most of his career only acknowledging the existence of his wife when filing his
nomination for a parliamentary seat in the 2014 general elections.
[28][29]

As per Modi in Kishore Makwana's Common Man Narendra Modi, published in 2014, after leaving
home at 17, he went toRamakrishna Mission ashram in Rajkot and then to the Belur
Math near Kolkata. Then he went to Guwahati and later joined another ashram set up by Swami
Vivekananda in Almora, in the Himalayan foothills. Two years after, he returned to Vadnagar and
after a brief halt at his house, Modi left again for Ahmedabad, where he lived and worked in a tea
stall run by his uncle where he again came in contact with Lakshmanrao Inamdar who was then
based at Hedgewar Bhavan, the RSS headquarters in the city.
[20][21][22]
He then worked in the staff
canteen of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation until he became a fulltime pracharak
(campaigner)
[30]
of the RSS in 1970.
[24]
In 1978, Modi graduated with an extramural degree through
Distance Education in political science from Delhi University.
[21][27]
In 1983, while remaining as
a pracharak in the RSS, completed his Master's degree in political science from Gujarat
University.
[18][31]
He still continues to visit Belur Math occasionally
[32][33]
and talks about his reverence
for the Ramakrishna Mission.
[34]

Early political career
Modi became a member of the RSS after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
[27]
After Modi had received
some RSS training inNagpur, which was a prerequisite for taking up an official position in the Sangh
Parivar, he was given charge of Sangh's student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, in Gujarat.
During 19751977, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of the emergency, political
opponents were jailed and political organisation including RSS were banned. Modi went
underground in Gujarat and to evade arrest was occasionally disguised as a Sikh, saint, elderly man
etc. and printed and sent booklets against the central government to Delhi. He also organised
agitations and covert distribution of the Sangh's pamphlets.
[16][27][35][36]

He also participated in the movement against the Emergency under Jayaprakash Narayan. He was
made the general secretary of the Gujarat Lok Sangharsh Samiti and his primary role was to co-
ordinate between activists in the state.
[21][37]
During this period he wrote a book titled Sangharsh ma
Gujarat (Gujarat's struggle) in Gujarati which chronicles events, anecdotes as well as his personal
experiences.
[36][38][39]
The RSS assigned Modi to the BJP in 1985.
[24]
While Shankersinh Vaghela and
Keshubhai Patel were the established names in the Gujarat BJP at that time, Modi rose to
prominence after organising Murli Manohar Joshi's Kanyakumari-Srinagar Ekta yatra (Journey for
Unity) in 1991.
[16]
In 1988, Modi was elected as organising secretary of BJP's Gujarat
unit,
[40]
marking his formal entry into mainstream politics.
[27]
As secretary, his electoral strategy was
central to BJP's victory in the 1995 state elections.
[24][41][42]

In November 1995, Modi was elected National Secretary of BJP and was transferred to New Delhi
where he was assigned responsibility for the party's activities in Haryana and Himachal
Pradesh.
[41][43]
Vaghela defected from the BJP after he lost the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, having
previously threatened to do so in 1995.
[16]
Modi was promoted to the post of general secretary
(Organisation) of the BJP in May 1998. While on the selection committee for the 1998 Assembly
elections in Gujarat, Modi favoured supporters of Patel over those loyal to Vaghela, in an attempt to
put an end to the factional divisions within the party. His strategies were credited as being key to
winning the 1998 elections.
[41]

Chief Minister of Gujarat
Chief Minister Modi and his cabinet ministers at a Planning Commission meet in New Delhi, 2013
In 2001, Keshubhai Patel's health was failing, and the BJP had lost seats in the by-elections.
Allegations of abuse of power, corruption and poor administration were being made, and
Patel's standing had been damaged by his administration's handling of the Bhuj
Earthquake of 2001.
[41][44][45]
As a result, the BJP's national leadership sought a new candidate
for the office of chief minister, and Modi, who had aired his misgivings about Patel's
administration, was chosen as a replacement.
[16]
L. K. Advani, a senior leader of the BJP, did
not want to ostracise Patel and was worried about Modi's lack of experience in governance.
Modi declined an offer to be Patel's deputy chief minister, informing Advani and Atal Bihari
Vajpayee that he was "going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all", and on 7
October 2001, Modi was appointed the Chief Minister of Gujarat, with the responsibility of
preparing the BJP for elections in December 2002.
[46][47]
As Chief Minister, Modi's ideas of
governance revolved around privatisation and small government, which stood at odds with
what political commentator Aditi Phadnis has described as the "anti-privatisation, anti-
globalisation position" of the RSS.
[44]

First term (20012002)
2002 Gujarat riots
Main article: 2002 Gujarat riots
On 27 February 2002, a train with several hundred passengers including large numbers of Hindu
pilgrims was burned nearGodhra, killing around 60 people.
[a]
Following rumours that the fire was
carried out by Muslim arsonists, anti-Muslim violencespread throughout Gujarat.
[50]
Estimates of the
death toll ranged from 900 to over 2,000, while several thousand more people were
injured.
[51][52]
The Modi government imposed a curfew in major cities, issued shoot-at-sight orders,
and called for the army to prevent the violence from escalating.
[53][54]
However, human rights
organisations, opposition parties, and sections of the media all accused Gujarat's government of
taking insufficient action against the riots, and even condoning it in some cases.
[53][54][55]
Modi's
decision to move the corpses of the Kar Sevaks who had been burned to death in Godhra to
Ahmedabad had been criticised for inflaming the violence.
[56][57]

In March 2008, the Supreme Court asked the state government to re-investigate nine cases in the
2002 Gujarat riots, including the Gulbarg Society incident, and constituted a Special Investigation
Team (SIT) to probe the cases afresh.
[55][58][59]
Responding to a petition from Zakia Jafri, widow
of Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre, the Supreme court in April 2009
asked the SIT to probe her complaint alleging that Modi and another minister had been complicit in
the killing.
[58][60]
The SIT questioned Modi in March 2010, and in May 2010 presented its report
before the Court, stating that it found no evidence to substantiate the allegations.
[58][61]
In July 2011,
the amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran submitted his final report to the Supreme Court, stating that
Modi could be prosecuted based on the available evidence, contrary to the position of the SIT.
Ramachandran's report was criticised by the SIT for relying on the testimony of Sanjiv Bhatt, who, it
said, had fabricated the documents used as evidence.
[62][63]
The Supreme court handed the matter to
the magistrate court, and left it to the SIT to examine Ramachandran's report. The SIT submitted its
final report in March 2012, seeking closure of the case, against which Zakia Jaffri filed a protest
petition. In December 2013, the magistrate court rejected the protest petition and accepted the clean
chit given to Modi by SIT stating that there was no evidence against Modi in the case.
[64]

Modi's involvement in the events of 2002 has continued to be debated. Several scholars have
described the events of 2002 as a pogrom, while others have called it an instance of state
terrorism.
[65][66][67]
Summarizing academic views on the subject, Martha Nussbaum stated that "There
is by now a broad consensus that the Gujarat violence was a form of ethnic cleansing, that in many
ways it was premeditated, and that it was carried out with the complicity of the state government and
officers of the law."
[68]
In 2012, Maya Kodnani, a former minister in Modi's Government from 2007
2009, was convicted of having participated in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002
riots.
[69][70]
She was both the first female and the firstMLA to be convicted in a post-Godhra riots
case.
[71]
While initially announcing that it would seek the death penalty for Kodnani, Modi's
government eventually pardoned her in 2013 and settled for a prison sentence.
[72][73][74]

A few months after the riots, New York Times reporter Celia Dugger asked Modi if he wished he
handled the riots any differently. He told her his only regret was that he did not handle the news
media better
[75][76]
and cited India's NDTVchannel as being irresponsible in its reporting.
[77]

2002 election
Main article: Gujarat legislative assembly election, 2002
In the aftermath of the violence, there were widespread calls for Modi to resign from his position as
chief minister of Gujarat. These came from both within and outside the state, including from the
leaders of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and theTelugu Desam Party, which were allies in then
BJP-led NDA government at the centre. The opposition parties stalled the national parliament over
the issue.
[78][79]
In April 2002, at the national executive meeting of BJP at Goa, Modi submitted his
resignation; however, it was rejected by the party.
[80]
On 19 July 2002, Modi's cabinet had an
emergency meeting and offered its resignation to the Governor of Gujarat, S. S. Bhandari, and the
assembly was dissolved.
[81][82]
In the subsequent elections, the BJP, led by Modi, won 127 seats in
the 182-member assembly.
[83]
Modi made significant use of anti-Muslim rhetoric during his election
campaign, though he later denied it.
[84][85][86][87]

Second term (20022007)
Despite allegations of using anti-Muslim rhetoric during the campaign, Modi's emphasis shifted
during his second term fromHindutva to the economic development of Gujarat.
[44][84]
Modi's decisions
curtailed the influence of organisations of the Sangh Parivar such as the Bharatiya Kisan
Sangh (BKS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP),
[88]
which had become entrenched in Gujarat
after the decline of Ahmedabad's textile industry.
[44]
Modi dropped Gordhan Zadafia, an ally of his
former Sangh coworker and VHP state chief Praveen Togadia, from the cabinet ministry. When the
BKS launched a farmers' agitation, Modi ordered their eviction from houses provided by the state
government. Modi's decision to demolish 200 illegal temples in Gandhinagar deepened the rift with
VHP.
[88][89]
Various organisations of the Sangh were no longer consulted nor informed of Modi's
administrative decisions prior to their enactment.
[88]

The changes brought by Modi in the period 20022007 has led to Gujarat being called an attractive
investment destination. Aditi Phadnis writes that "there was sufficient anecdotal evidence pointing to
the fact that corruption had gone down significantly in the state... if there was to be any corruption,
Modi had to know about it".
[44]
Modi started financial and technology parks in the state. During the
2007 Vibrant Gujarat summit, real estate investment deals worth 6.6 trillion were signed in
Gujarat.
[44]

Despite his focus on economic issues during the second term, Modi continued to be criticised for his
relationship with Muslims. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Prime Minister of India, who had asked Modi
not to discriminate between citizens in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat violence and had pushed
for his resignation as Chief Minister of Gujarat,
[90][91]
distanced himself from Modi and reached out to
North Indian Muslims before the 2004 elections to the Lok Sabha. After the elections, Vajpayee held
that the violence in Gujarat had been one of the reasons for BJP's electoral defeat and
acknowledged that not removing Modi immediately after the Gujarat violence was a mistake.
[92][93]

2007 election
Further information: Gujarat legislative assembly election, 2007
In the run up to the assembly elections in 2007 and the general election in 2009, the BJP stepped up
its rhetoric on terrorism.
[94]
On 18 July 2006, Modi criticised the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan
Singh, "... for his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislations" such as the Prevention of Terrorist
Activities Act. He asked the national government to allow states to invoke tougher laws in the wake
of the 2006 blasts in Mumbai.
[95]
Around this time Modi frequently demanded the execution of Afzal
Guru,
[96]
a collaborator of the Pakistani jihadists who had been convicted of terrorism for his
involvement in the2001 Indian Parliament attack.
[97][b]
As a consequence of the November 2008
Mumbai attacks, Modi held a meeting to discuss security of Gujarat's 1,600 km (990 mi) long
coastline which resulted in the central government authorisation of 30 highspeed surveillance
boats.
[98]

In July 2007, Modi completed 2,063 consecutive days as chief minister of Gujarat, making him the
longest-serving holder of that post.
[99]
The BJP won 122 of the 182 seats in the state assembly in the
2007 election, and Modi continued as chief minister.
[100]

Third term (20072012)
Development projects
The Sardar Sarovar Dam, undergoing a height increase in 2006.
Successive BJP governments under Patel and Modi supported NGOs and communities in the
creation of infrastructure projects for conservation of groundwater. Gujarat is a semi-arid state and,
according to Tushaar Shah, was "... never known for agrarian dynamism". By December 2008,
500,000 structures had been constructed, of which 113,738 were check dams. While most check
dams remained empty during the pre-monsoon season, they helped recharge the aquifersthat lie
beneath them.
[101]
60 of the 112 tehsils which were found to have overexploited the groundwater
table in 2004 had regained their normal groundwater level by 2010,
[102]
meaning that Gujarat had
managed to increase its groundwater levels at a time when they were falling in all other Indian
states. As a result, production of genetically-modified Bt cotton, which could now be irrigated
using tube wells, increased to become the largest in India.
[101]
The boom in cotton production and
utilisation of semiarid land
[103]
saw the agriculture growth rate of Gujarat increase to 9.6% in the
period 20012007.
[104]
Though public irrigation measures in the central and southern areas, such as
the Sardar Sarovar Project, have not been as successful in achieving their aims,
[101]
for the decade
20012010, Gujarat recorded an agricultural growth rate of 10.97%, the highest among all Indian
states.
[103]
However, sociologists have pointed out that the growth rate under the Congress
government during 199297 was at 12.9%.

Modi at the inauguration of a hospital inKheda district, Gujarat.
The Narendra Modi government also succeeded in bringing electricity to every village in Gujarat,
although Dipankar Banerjee points out that all but 170 of them had been electrified under the
previous Congress administration.
[105]
Modi also greatly changed the system of power distribution in
the state, with a significant impact on farmers. The state greatly expanded the Jyotigram
Yojanascheme, in which the agricultural electricity supply was rewired to separate it from other rural
power supplies. The electricity supplied was then rationed to fit scheduled demand for irrigation,
resulting in a cost reduction. Initial farmer protests died down when the farmers who benefited found
that supply had become more regular.
[101]
An assessment study found that corporations and large
farmers had significantly benefited from the policy, but that small farmers and labourers had been
negatively impacted.
[106]

In his third term, progress was made on the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City project,
considered as one of Modi's pet projects. The first phase, which encompassed two skyscrapers,
GIFT One and Two, was completed in 2012.
[107][108]


Debate on Gujarat's development under Modi
Narendra Modi addressing law graduates at the Gujarat National Law University. Modi's government has
worked to brand Gujarat as a state of dynamic development, economic growth and prosperity, using
the slogan "Vibrant Gujarat".
[109][110][111]
However, critics have pointed to Gujarat's relatively poor
record on human development, poverty alleviation, nutrition, and education. The state is 13th in India
for poverty, 21st for education, 44.7 percent of children under five are underweight and 23 percent
are undernourished putting the state in the "alarming" category on the India State Hunger
Index.
[112]
In contrast, officials from the state of Gujarat claim that Gujarat outperformed India as a
whole in the rates of improvement of multiple human indicators, such as female education, between
2001 and 2011. Furthermore, they claim that the school drop-out rates declined from 20 percent in
2001 to 2 percent in 2011, and that maternal mortality declined by 32 percent from 2001 to
2011.
[113]
Additionally, the Indian Supreme Court, in a review of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894,
identified Gujarat as being one of the few states from which there were no complaints of forcible land
acquisition.
[114]

Political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot asserts that the development in Gujarat has been limited to the
urban middle class, while rural dwellers and lower castes have become increasingly marginalised.
He cites the fact that Gujarat ranks 10th among the 21 Indian states in the Human Development
Index, which he attributes to the lower development in rural Gujarat. He states that under Modi, the
number of families living below the poverty line has increased, and that particularly rural adivasi and
dalits have become increasingly marginalised.
[115]
In July 2013, Economics Nobel LaureateAmartya
Sen criticised Narendra Modi's governance record and said he did not approve of it, saying that
under Modi's administration, Gujarat's "record in education and healthcare is pretty
bad".
[116]
However, economists Arvind Panagariyaand Jagdish Bhagwati state that Gujarat's social
indicator improved from a much lower baseline than other Indian states. They state that Gujarat's
performance in raising literacy rates has been superior to other states in India, and the "rapid"
improvement of health indicators in Gujarat as evidence that "its progress has not been poor by any
means."
[117]

Fourth term (20122014) Modi with Anandiben Patel at a meeting of BJP MLAs, after being
elected as Prime Minister. Patel succeeded Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Further information: Gujarat legislative assembly election, 2012
In the 2012 Gujarat legislative assembly elections, Modi won from the constituency of Maninagar
with a majority of 86,373 votes over Sanjiv Bhatt's wife, Shweta, who was contesting for the Indian
National Congress.
[118]
The BJP won 115 of the 182 seats, continuing the majority that the party has
had throughout Modi's tenure,
[119]
and allowing the party to form the government, as it has in Gujarat
since 1995.
[120]

In later by-elections, the BJP won an additional four assembly seats and 2 Lok Sabha seats that
were all held by the Indian National Congress prior to the by-elections, even though Modi never
campaigned for its candidates.
[121]
This brought the number of seats held by the BJP in the state
assembly up to 119.
In 2013, the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) at the Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania cancelled a keynote video-conference speech by Modi after some Indian-Americans
lobbied against Modi.
[122]

After being elected as Prime Minister, Modi resigned from the post of chief minister on 21 May 2014,
and his MLA seat from the Maninagar constituency, after delivering a leaving speech described as
emotional. Anandiben Patel was chosen as his replacement.
[123]

National government
2009 election
Modi played a role in the 2009 national general election campaign of the BJP
[124]
and was one of
their star campaigners.
[125]

2014 general election Narendra Modi addressing a 3D rally during 2014 Indian general elections.
Main article: Bharatiya Janata Party campaign for Indian general election, 2014
On 31 March 2013, Modi was appointed to the BJP Parliamentary Board, the highest decision-
making body of the party.
[126][127]
On 9 June 2013, Modi was appointed Chairman of the BJP's
Central Election Campaign Committee for the 2014 general election, at the national level executive
meeting of BJP.
[128]
The party's senior leader and founding member Lal Krishna Advani resigned
from all his posts at the party following the selection, protesting against leaders who were
"concerned with their personal agendas"; the resignation was described by The Times of India as "a
protest against Narendra Modi's elevation as the chairman of the party's election committee".
However, Advani withdrew his resignation the next day at the urging of RSS chief Mohan
Bhagwat.
[129]
In September 2013, BJP announced Modi as their prime ministerial candidate for the
2014 Lok Sabha election.
[130]
Narendra Modi contested the election from two constituencies:
Varanasi
[131]
and Vadodara.
[132]
His candidacy was supported by spiritual
leaders Ramdev and Morari Bapu,
[133]
and by economists Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya,
who have stated that they, "...are impressed by Modi's economics."
[134]
His detractors included Nobel
Prize laureate economist Amartya Sen, who said that he did not want Modi as a Prime Minister
because he had not done enough to make minorities feel safe, and that under Modi, Gujarat's record
in health and education provision has been "pretty bad".
[116]

Modi won from both seats he contested; defeating Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, in
Varanasi andMadhusudan Mistry of the Indian National Congress in Vadodara (by a margin of
570,128 votes, the second highest ever).
[135]
He led the BJP-led NDA to a decisive victory in the
general elections in which the ruling Indian National Congress suffered its worst ever
defeat.
[136][137][138]
Modi was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP parliamentary party
following his party's victory in the Indian parliamentary elections and was subsequently appointed
the prime minister by India's president.
[139][140]
To comply with the rule that a MP can not hold two
constituencies, Modi vacated the Vadodara seat.
[141]

In "India's first social media election", Modi effectively used social media like Twitter, Facebook and
Google in his campaign, besides Google Hangouts and holograms for campaign appearances. He
even posted a selfie on Twitter and his victory tweet emerged as the most retweeted in India.
[142]

Prime Minister
Further information: Foreign policy of Narendra Modi and Swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi
Modi (far right) was sworn in on 26 May 2014 at the Rastrapati Bhavan. Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime
minister on 26 May 2014 at the Rastrapati Bhavan. He is India's first prime minister born after the
country's independence.
[143]
In a first of its kind, Modi invited all SAARC leaders to attend his
swearing-in ceremony;
[144]
the attendees included Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif,
[145]
Sri
Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai, Bhutan Prime
Minister Tshering Tobgay, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, Maldives president President Abdulla
Yameen Abdul Gayoom, Speaker of the National Parliament of Bangladesh Shirin Sharmin
Chaudhury and Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam of Mauritius (SAARC
observer).
[146][147]
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina could not attend since she had a
scheduled State visit to Japan and deputed the Speaker of National Parliament of Bangladesh to
attend the ceremony on her behalf.
[148]

International diplomacy
As chief minister of Gujarat
To attract foreign investment in Gujarat during his time as chief minister, Modi made visits to
countries such as China, Singapore and Japan.
[149]
He also visited China in November 2006 to study
the Special Economic Zones that were about to be implemented in Gujarat.
[150]
He again visited in
September 2007
[151]
and later in November 2011. A month after his visit of 2011, the Chinese
Government released 13 diamond traders from India who had been jailed by
the Shenzhen Customs, which Modi attributed to his diplomatic efforts and statesmanship.
[152][153]

Modi's relationship with many Western nations was a troubled one during his tenure as Chief
Minister. Questions about his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots resulted in a boycott by the UK, the US
and the EU. He was barred from entering the United States under a provision of the Immigration and
Nationality Act.
[154]
Modi is the only person ever denied a visa to the U.S. under this
provision.
[155]
The UK as well as the European Union refused to deal with Modi because of
perceptions of his role in the riots. However, as Modi emerged as a national leader in India, the
UK
[156]
and the EU
[157]
lifted their boycotts in October 2012 and March 2013 respectively and,
following Modi's election as the Prime Minister of India, the US invited him to Washington.
[158][159]
Narendra Modi meeting the South Korean ambassador in Gandhinagar In 2011, the Karachi Chamber of
Commerce & Industry, impressed with the development of Gujarat, invited Modi to visit Pakistan and
address prominent business leaders. They also asked him to consider a flight between Karachi and
Ahmedabad, on account of the historical cultural and economic relations between the two regions of
Gujarat and Sindh. Modi wanted to help Pakistan out of its power crisis, especially in Sindh,
suggesting Pakistan can follow the 'Gujarat Model' in two ways Gujarat Solar Park and Kalpasar
Project.
[160]

In April 2014, in a move described as "unexpected", senior Pakistani diplomats told The Daily
Telegraph that Modi is their preferred choice for the Prime Minister of India, "as he could provide the
strong leadership necessary for peace talks".
[161]

Although boycotted by Western nations, Modi visited Japan in 2012. According to Ryohei Kasai,
research fellow at the Center for South Asian Studies, Gifu Women's University, Japan, "There is a
growing interest in Modi in Japan with much anticipation that he will reshape India by revitalizing its
economy and better governance. I believe Japan has an excellent relationship with him. Not only
have successive Japanese ambassadors to India been regular guests in 'Vibrant Gujarat' investors'
summit (organised biennially) but Japanese private companies also made a big amount of
investment in the state."
[162]

As Prime Minister of India
Modi invited the leaders of SAARC countries to his oath-taking ceremony for taking office as Prime
Minister, to strengthen the diplomatic relationship and increase business.
[163]
Continuing with the aim
of promoting close ties with neighbouring countries, Modi's first foreign visit as Prime Minister of
India was to Bhutan.
[164][165]

Personality and image
Modi is a vegetarian.
[166]
He has a frugal lifestyle with a personal staff of three. He is
a workaholic and an introvert.
[167]
He writes poems in Gujarati.
[168]
As a speaker, he is known as a
crowd-puller.
[169]
In the critical opinion of Somini Sengupta, writing for The New York Times in a 2009
article on the Supreme Court's ordering of an investigation into Modi's role in the 2002 Gujarat riots,
"Mr. Modi has assiduously sought to reinvent himself from a scruffy mascot of Hindu nationalism to a
decisive corporate-style administrator".
[55]
He emerged as social media savvy politician and is
currently the fourth most followed leader in the world with over 5 million followers on Twitter.
[142]
His
interaction on Google Hangouts on 31 August 2012 made Modi the first Indian politician to interact
with netizens through live chat on the internet.
[170][171]

Modi has been labelled by the media and some articles in peer-reviewed journals as a controversial,
polarising and divisive figure,
[172][173][174]
but British economist Jim O'Neill, author of the BRIC report,
wrote on his blog that Modi is "good on economics", one of the things that "India desperately needs
in a leader".
[175]
In August 2013, financial analyst Chris Wood, chief strategist of CLSA, wrote in his
weekly Greed & Fear that "the Indian stock market's greatest hope is the emergence of Gujarat
Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate".
[175]

Awards and recognitions
Gujarat Ratna by Shri Poona Gujarati Bandhu Samaj at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on
celebration of centenary year.
[176]

e-Ratna award by the Computer Society of India
[177]

Best Chief Minister In a nationwide survey conducted in 2007 by India Today magazine,
Narendra Modi was declared the Best Chief Minister in the country.
[178]

Asian Winner of the fDi Personality of the Year award for 2009 by FDi magazine.
[179]

In March 2012, Modi appeared on the cover of the Asian edition of Time, one of India's few
politicians to have done so.
[180]

Modi was featured in Time's 2014 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
[