Missing: 407 million news consumers

With any luck, this election will push mainstream media to recognise the other Indias as viable news consumers

The results of the general elections last week have answered a question that has bothered me for some years now. Going by the Election Commission of India data, 642 million Indians voted in the 2024 general elections. Of these, 36.6 per cent, or about 235 million, voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been running the government at the centre for 10 years. 

Switch on many of India’s roughly 400 news channels. It would seem as if these 235 million people are the only audience for news. Assuming they all watch television, the voters for the ruling party are less