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In this week’s special edition of Access Asia, we focus on India as the country’s record-breaking election gets under way. In the past few years, India’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index has plummeted. With the country’s independent media increasingly under threat, YouTube has become a key medium to fact-check trending topics. Twenty-nine-year-old Dhruv Rathee has been using the platform to fact-check issues and hold the Indian government to account. He spoke to FRANCE 24’s Delano D’Souza.
Nearly a billion people are registered to vote in India’s marathon election and results are due out on June 4. Some 543 seats in the lower house of parliament are up for grabs, with 272 needed to secure a majority. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies are confident they’ll secure 400 seats this time around. But in the run-up to the vote, the INDIA alliance, comprising the Congress Party as well as the Aam Aadmi Party, have accused the government of tilting the field. The Congress say their campaign funds were frozen and the Aam Aadmi Party has seen three of its leaders, including the chief minister of Delhi, put behind bars on charges they say are trumped up.
After two terms as Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi remains the most popular candidate in the election, according to opinion polls. Modi owes some of his popularity to the implementation of generous social welfare schemes. Our correspondents Alban Alvarez, Nabeel Ahmed, Selma Daoui and Khansa Juned report from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
