World
‘My vote snatched’: India election clouded by mysterious candidate pullouts
New Delhi, India – Prince Patel cancelled his vacation plans after the dates were announced for India’s ongoing weeks-long elections. The 61-year-old retired engineer said he had waited patiently for five years to cast his vote in Surat, India’s diamond hub in the western Indian state of Gujarat, “to give my referendum against the policy failures of [Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s] government”.
But when the May 7 date arrived for the city to vote along with 92 other constituencies in the third phase of India’s election, there were no polling booths set up in Surat.
Two weeks earlier, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had already called the seat in favour of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after cancelling the nominations of the opposition Congress party’s candidate and five others. The eight remaining candidates all withdrew.
Patel said he was devastated. He had voted for the BJP in 2014, lifted by Modi’s promises of “acche din” (good days). But by 2019, disenchantment had set in. Unemployment and price rise are some of his biggest worries, he said – sentiments that mirror recent opinion polls.
“I would rather vote for a pigeon than choose the BJP,” he said. “My children have graduated but there are no jobs.”
Yet, Surat is only the most extreme example of a peculiar phenomenon that is playing out in multiple constituencies across India: opposition candidates dropping out, joining the ruling BJP or alleging threats to their lives. Even as the BJP has denied any foul play, opposition candidates claim these instances are evidence of an uneven political playing field.
“The government is their [BJP’s] own, and the election commission cancelled several nominations on one point or another,” said Vijay Lohar, who was the candidate of a regional party, the Bahujan Republican Socialist Party, before his nomination was rejected by election authorities. “The BJP is the referee of this game. Where should I complain?”
‘Show of dominance’
More than 400km (250 miles) miles away from Surat, the city of Indore in the central state of Madhya Pradesh is also preparing for what is shaping up, effectively, as a non-contest.
The city’s vote is scheduled for May 13. But Akshay Kanti Bam, the candidate for the Congress, withdrew his nomination on April 29, the last date for withdrawal of candidatures – after the deadline for filing nominations had passed. In essence, that has meant that the Congress cannot contest against sitting BJP member of parliament Shankar Lalwani, who is also the party’s nominee this time around. Bam, meanwhile, has also quit the Congress and joined the BJP on election eve, claiming that the party that nominated him for the constituency did not support his campaign on the ground.
The Congress party has called on voters in Indore to pick the ‘None of the Above’, or NOTA, option on electoral voting machines – which allows them to show displeasure with all candidates who are contesting – even as it accuses the BJP of pressuring Bam to switch sides on election eve. Bam did not respond to repeated requests from Al Jazeera for an interview.
The BJP insists it has had no role in the decisions of opposition candidates who have withdrawn their nominations.
“People have withdrawn as per their discretion and these are absolutely baseless allegations,” said Zafar Islam, a national spokesperson for the BJP. “Thousands of candidates are fighting in this election across hundreds of seats peacefully – these allegations are only aimed at maligning the BJP’s image.”
But some analysts see a pattern in the constituencies affected by candidate withdrawals. Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are both bastions of the BJP: The party won all 26 of Gujarat’s seats in the Lok Sabha – the lower house of India’s parliament – in 2014 and 2019. It won 27 out of Madhya Pradesh’s 29 seats in 2014 and improved that to 28 wins in 2019.
In the public eye, the pull-out of opposition candidates from key contests in these states is akin to “booth capturing”, said Neelanjan Sircar, a senior fellow at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research (CPR), referring to the illegal practice of seizing control of a polling station during elections, which used to be common in parts of India until a few decades ago.
“At a level of the booth, you capture the booth you are strongest at, and that is done to demonstrate dominance,” said Sircar. The idea, he said, is to “signal to the opposition that we can win elections whenever we want”.
And however the ruling party wants, if Jitendra Chauhan, a candidate who withdrew his nomination from the Gandhinagar seat in Gujarat, is to be believed.
‘Threat to our lives’
Chauhan’s name was supposed to be among the options on the voting machine on May 7, when Gandhinagar voted.
But the 39-year-old painter, who was contesting as an independent candidate, pulled out of the election against India’s powerful Home Minister Amit Shah, who is widely seen as Modi’s deputy.
“There has been extreme pressure upon me, and I have been mentally tortured to the point where I gave up,” Chauhan told Al Jazeera. He claimed that “BJP people” approached his extended family to pressure him to quit. If they could reach his family, they could hurt them too, he feared.
“So I backed off and withdrew my nomination,” he said.
Father to three daughters, Chauhan released a video on April 21, sobbing and alluding to a threat that he received of consequences – including for his very life – if he did not back down. Many other candidates also pulled out from the contest against Shah.
“I have a responsibility to raise my daughters,” he said, adding that he moved his children to safety outside Gujarat, which is ruled by the BJP, before coming back to vote on May 7. “I’m not financially well-off and I cannot afford to resist the BJP because anything can happen to our lives.”
The BJP has not lost the Gandhinagar seat since 1984. In the 2019 elections, Shah won the seat by a margin of 550,000 votes, and there is little evidence that he would have faced any risk of a loss even if all candidates had contested as they had planned to. But his campaign has set its eyes on doubling Shah’s 2019 victory margin, and fewer contestants could help.
In the 2014 and 2019 elections, “there was a booming turnout for anticorruption promises and nationalism”, but the BJP has lost that wave, said Sircar of the CPR. “The BJP is certainly the most popular party in India, but you have to manufacture some ways of keeping these markers of dominance,” he said.
A Gujarat-based political analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears over their safety, said these incidents pointed to holes in India’s claims to be the world’s largest democracy simply because of the scale of the election it holds. “The worst of democracies also have elections – you cannot do away with elections,” they said. “But the question is about the fairness of the electoral process, and that seems compromised in India.”
It is a sentiment that Chauhan echoed. He said he had thought of contesting because, as a common man who had grown up in poverty, he felt politics was the only vehicle for change.
“But it will always be like a hole in my heart that I was forced into withdrawing,” said Chauhan, his voice cracking, as he spoke on May 7 after voting. “When I voted today, I did not feel like an independent citizen. I felt like a subject of King Modi.”
‘Future in darkness’
In India, a walkover is rare for candidates. An uncontested win has only been recorded 23 times since the country gained independence in 1947.
But for a little more than a decade, Indian elections have also offered the NOTA option. That’s what the Congress is pushing voters in Indore to pick on May 13.
Anuj, a 60-year-old from Indore, who wished to be identified by his first name, was first drawn to the Congress when he drove the campaign jeep of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as a young man more than three decades ago. Since then, he has been loyal to the party, he said, and has campaigned for the Congress this time too.
“We all will vote NOTA. My party candidate is not there, and the other option is the BJP,” he said. “It may not change anything, but it will give comfort to my heart that I resisted.”
Meanwhile, a group of lawyers working with civil society activists are also planning to take India’s election commission to court for calling the result of the Surat election without allowing people to vote on NOTA.
“Is NOTA not seen as an independent candidate on the machine?” one of the lawyers said in a conversation with Al Jazeera, requesting anonymity, citing fears of pressure aimed at pre-empting the petition.
Back in Surat, Patel, the retired engineer, was more blunt about his frustration.
“My right to vote has been snatched,” he said.
Tehran holds back from talks to cement ceasefire due to ongoing Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon.
Published On 19 Jun 2026
Planned talks in Switzerland between the United States and Iran to discuss the technical terms of their ceasefire deal have been postponed.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed early on Friday that the talks, which were scheduled to take place in Burgenstock, would now not go ahead.
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Reports suggest that Iran has delayed sending its delegation to discuss the technical issues linked to the ceasefire deal – digitally signed by the two countries on Wednesday – due to Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon.
Israeli strikes overnight and into Friday have reportedly killed at least 16 people in southern Lebanon, with Iran-linked Hezbollah reporting intense fighting.
Talks postponed
A ceremony followed by talks was expected to be held at the Burgenstock Resort in Stansstad, near Lucerne in central Switzerland.
It is owned by Katara Hospitality, part of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, which helped mediate peace in the conflict.
On Friday, in a message to media outlet AFP, the Swiss foreign ministry said: “The planned talks between the US, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan have been postponed”.
“Switzerland remains ready to facilitate these talks. The relevant preparatory work at Burgenstock is continuing,” it added, without providing a new date for the talks.
The announcement followed a report from media outlet Al-Mayadeen that Iran was delaying sending its delegation to Switzerland over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s military will stay in a “security zone” of southern Lebanon as long as “Israel’s security needs require it.”
Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the agreement, but Iran has insisted Israel must withdraw from the large swath of southern Lebanon it is occupying.
Logistics have never been ‘simple or predictable’
The US push to quickly begin high-stakes talks with Iran hit a snag just two days after the signing of a 14-point memorandum of understanding with the US that sets out a framework for talks during a 60-day negotiation period.
Vice President JD Vance had been prepared to make an overnight flight to meet with his Iranian counterparts at the mountainside resort in the tiny Swiss village of Obburgen.
His staff and a small pack of journalists had even gathered at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington in anticipation of the trip.
Meanwhile, dozens of White House officials, advance staffers and more media gathered in Switzerland to prepare for Vance’s anticipated arrival.
But then, abruptly on Thursday evening, the trip was called off.
The White House issued a statement explaining Vance – who has been tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the negotiations – and his delegation were prepared for talks, but they were unable to finalise plans and the vice president would remain in Washington.
“The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable,” the statement noted.
Also on Thursday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif cancelled his trip to Switzerland, his spokesperson told AFP.
new video loaded: A Small Election Could Change British Politics
transcript
transcript
A Small Election Could Change British Politics
Voters in the northern English district of Makerfield cast ballots on Thursday to choose their representative in Parliament, the outcome of which could lead to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ouster.
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Well, I don’t think there should be a leadership election. I think that the last government proved that parties that spend their whole time in leadership elections don’t go on to win the next general election.
By Alisa Shodiyev Kaff
June 18, 2026
World
From bear hugs to handshakes: How India lost its edge with Trump while Pakistan quietly gained ground
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This week, President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came face-to-face at the G7 summit in France, their first such encounter since February 2025. Rather than his trademark bear hug, Modi greeted Trump with a smile and handshake.
Then on Wednesday, the two held a bilateral meeting. It was a friendly chat, but one that came against a backdrop of compounding tensions.
As India works at restoring its relationship with Washington, its arch-foe Pakistan has expanded its own diplomatic profile, complicating India’s campaign against its nuclear-armed rival.
COMMERCE SECRETARY HOWARD LUTNICK MAKES QUIET TRIP TO INDIA DAYS AFTER TARIFF SETBACK
President Donald Trump looks at Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaking following the official signing of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Shariff announced his intention to nominate Trump for the Noble Peace Prize for a second time. (Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters)
For years, India built an international case against Pakistan, projecting it as an isolated or destabilizing state. This hardline stance appeared to be working, with Modi declaring to Pakistan, “India has been successful in isolating you, and we will intensify those efforts.”
But a decade later, Pakistan is rapidly emerging as a key global player in the region and beyond.
While Modi initially tried to engage Pakistan, his government’s approach eventually hardened around the mantra that “terror and talks cannot coexist.”
In Washington, India has typically been favored, with Presidents Trump, Biden, Obama and George W. Bush all making visits during their time in office.
President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a bilateral meeting at the G7 Summit on June 17, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Modi built a rapport with Trump during his first term in office and was one of the first world leaders invited to the White House after Trump’s inauguration. But over the past year, that relationship has come under strain as Islamabad quietly clawed its way back to credibility.
“India misjudged Trump in term two, banking on once friendly relations,” Sid Dubey, a visiting professor at Bennett University in India, told Fox News Digital. “They have yet to start recovering from that.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP, INDIA’S MODI TO TACKLE TRADE, TARIFF TENSIONS AT HIGH-STAKES MEETING
U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wave to the crowd at Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. India poured on the pageantry with a joyful, colorful welcome for President Donald Trump on Monday that kicked off a whirlwind 36-hour visit meant to reaffirm U.S.-India ties while providing enviable overseas imagery for a president in a re-election year. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
The shift first became apparent in May 2025, when President Trump announced he had secured a ceasefire between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. The fighting had come over India-administered Kashmir and was the worst in decades.
Islamabad promptly praised Trump for ending the deadly dispute and even nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize. New Delhi, however, rejected the claim, insisting the ceasefire was the result of direct bilateral talks with Pakistan.
The response reflected India’s long-standing sensitivity to third-party involvement in what it fiercely maintains is a bilateral dispute.
In the months that followed, frictions only deepened.
FILE — In this Jan. 11, 2013 file photo, a Pakistani Ranger in black uniform and his Indian counterpart march during a flag-off ceremony, at the joint Pakistan-India border check post of Wagah near Lahore, Pakistan. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary, File)
President Trump hit India with some of the steepest tariffs imposed on any major economy. Meanwhile, U.S. sanctions pressure on Russian oil rattled energy import-dependent India, while disputes over H-1B visas added further strain. Analysts say Trump’s America First agenda increasingly overshadowed the friendship Modi had cultivated during Trump’s first term.
“When Trump unfortunately said the May 2025 clash ended because of him personally, that upset India a lot, and they made that known,” Dubey said. “Then the tariffs were another slap in India’s face. Meanwhile, Pakistan took advantage, leaving India at a bit of a loss. From there, relations fell further with the Iran conflict.”
India is among the countries most indirectly affected by the strategic fallout from the Iran war, facing economic pressure and mounting energy concerns.
IRAN WAR FUELS ASIA ENERGY CRUNCH AS INDIA, JAPAN, OTHERS FEEL STRAIN
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf meets with chief of Defence Forces of Pakistan, Field Marshal Asim Munir, in Tehran, Iran, May 23, 2026. (Iranian Parliament Speaker Office/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters)
Last week, a U.S. strike further exacerbated tensions after three Indian seafarers became collateral damage in the conflict. They were the first and only seafarers confirmed killed as part of the U.S. blockade, sparking outrage across India.
New Delhi instantly summoned Washington’s Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks, expressing deep concern over the renewed attacks and arguing that its nationals were becoming casualties in a war not their own.
India also warned of the broader humanitarian, economic, and energy consequences of the conflict, which are expected to linger even as an agreement has now been reached.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, center, walks with Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, left, and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar after arriving for talks with Iranian officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via AP Photo)
All the while, Pakistan was gaining diplomatic visibility, finding itself in the unusual position of currying favor in Washington while maintaining deep ties with China, Iran and the Gulf states.
Pakistan’s prominent role in recent months highlighted how Islamabad has been more nimble in its diplomacy than India,” Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Sadanand Dhume told Fox News Digital. “Additionally, Pakistan decisively outmaneuvered India’s quixotic bid to isolate Pakistan on the world stage.”
Regional dynamics have also been reshaped by the two rivals’ competing strategies. India has deepened its strategic partnership with the U.S. through alliances such as the Quad partnership with the U.S., Australia, and Japan and has expanded cooperation across South Asian states, including a burgeoning relationship with Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s growing regional relevance has been reflected in its strengthened ties with China, improved relations with regional partners like Bangladesh and expanded security cooperation with Gulf states.
RUBIO VISIT TO INDIA PUSHES DEEPER ENERGY TIES AS IRAN CONFLICT RATTLES GLOBAL OIL MARKETS
Additionally, Trump, who accused Pakistan of “deceit and lies” during his first term, has since repeatedly praised its leadership. In June 2025, the president invited Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir to the White House for a high-profile lunch meeting.
Munir was the first Pakistani military chief who was not also president to be hosted by a U.S. president. He also led the war effort against India earlier that year.
In this photo released by the Inter Services Public Relations, Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces and Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir, center, Pakistan Naval Chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf, left, and Pakistan Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar attend a guard of honor ceremony at the joint military command headquarters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Inter Services Public Relations via AP)
Trump described Munir as his “favorite Field Marshal” and an “exceptional human being.”
Their relationship has been further reflected in trade deals and, most recently, Pakistan’s role as a principal mediator in restoring diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran.
“India tried to make Pakistan an international pariah. Instead, Pakistan has wormed its way into Trump’s good books through a combination of concrete co-operation with the U.S. and outrageous flattery of the president, leading to Trump elevating Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as heroes,” Dhume said.
India, meanwhile, has maintained close ties with Israel while generally sticking to more measured messaging.
TRUMP’S FAVORITE FIELD MARSHAL: WHO IS PAKISTAN’S POWERFUL ARMY CHIEF ASIM MUNIR WITH DEEP INTEL TIES
On June 15, upon the agreement of a deal with Iran, Modi released a statement, saying, “India hopes that the implementation of this understanding will help restore peace and stability in the region and ensure the freedom of navigation and commerce.”
“Hats off to Pakistan. They worked really hard to bring this awfully disruptive war with Iran to an end,” Dubey told Fox. “India unfortunately lost out by not seeking to be a problem solver like Pakistan. It could have played its cards better as a peacemaker, given its traditionally strong relations with Tehran.”
Still, analysts caution these are rapidly evolving dynamics. There is no guarantee that Pakistan’s current moment will last, and the tide for India could still turn.
“Pakistan’s mediation role has allowed it to substantially reset its international image. It has positioned itself as a responsible international actor rather than a rogue state responsible for both nuclear proliferation and exporting Islamic terrorism. How long this lasts depends in large measure on two things: will Pakistan find a way to remain in Trump’s good books, and will it be able to change its behavior sufficiently to convince the world that it has indeed turned over a new leaf,” Dhume told Fox News Digital.
Meanwhile, India is working to regain its position and show the U.S. it is still a reliable partner.
Marco Rubio visited India last month, his first since becoming Trump’s top diplomat last year, which was widely seen as an attempt to reset ties.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks as President Donald Trump looks on during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2025. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump and Modi’s G7 meeting marked another significant step.
Trump praised Modi as “calm, cool and totally killer” and said he would be traveling to India “sometime in the future.” India has been pressing Trump for a visit, potentially as part of a broader meeting involving Japan and Australia.
Trump also said the United States would defend India.
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“If anybody attacks that man, we’re going to be there,” Trump said, referring to Modi. “Now, if there’s a new leader, I’m not sure about it.”
The Pakistani and Indian governments did not respond to Fox News Digital requests for comment.
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