- Saturday, July 27, 2024
The PM’s Bharatiya Janata Party was poised to be the single largest party but could be well short of an absolute majority, leaving it dependent on its alliance partners to form government,
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (4) tweeted about the results of the general elections 2024, almost 12 hours after the counting began earlier in the day in which he said the people of the country placed faith in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the third consecutive time.
He called the feat “historical” and bowed before the people for their “affection” and assured to “continue with the good work done over the past decade to keep fulfilling the aspirations of people”. He also praised the workers of his Bharatiya Janata Party and the alliance for their efforts put during the marathon election season.
“People have placed their faith in NDA, for a third consecutive time! This is a historical feat in India’s history. I bow to the Janata Janardan for this affection and assure them that we will continue the good work done in the last decade to keep fulfilling the aspirations of people. I also salute all our Karyakartas for their hard work. Words will never do justice to their exceptional efforts.
Read: India’s ‘thriving, flourishing’ democracy praised in UK
People have placed their faith in NDA, for a third consecutive time! This is a historical feat in India’s history.
I bow to the Janata Janardan for this affection and assure them that we will continue the good work done in the last decade to keep fulfilling the aspirations of…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 4, 2024
The BJP was poised to be the single largest party in the election but could be well short of an absolute majority, leaving it dependent on its NDA partners to form government, while the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance bloc appeared set to be a formidable force.
As votes were counted for the parliamentary elections and the hours passed by, the trends did not show up the clear-cut picture the ruling alliance had hoped for and what was projected by the exit polls.
Read: ‘Kingmakers’ could be back as Modi’s BJP struggles to get majority
Signifying a shift in the dominance of single-party rule and back to coalition politics, the BJP was ahead or had won in 246 seats, well below the magic number of 272 in the house of 543.
The NDA number was 300.
At the other end of the spectrum, the INDIA bloc was ahead in 227 seats with the Indian National Congress leading or winning in 96 seats, almost double its 2019 score.
In the last elections, the BJP had 303 seats on its own, while NDA had over 350.
Modi was on track to equal Jawaharlal Nehru’s record as prime minister for a third consecutive term but this time with far reduced numbers as his BJP took a knocking in Uttar Pradesh, where the Samajwadi Party could trump it, Rajasthan and Haryana and did not make the gains it expected in the south.
With plenty of greys in a scenario that was expected to be black and white, few leaders spoke up immediately.
BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said, “It is not a close contest. The BJP-led NDA is going to form its government with a massive majority. Let the counting finish, it will be clear. People of the country are with Modi.”
Congress’s Jairam Ramesh took the opportunity to hit out at Modi saying, “He used to pretend that he was extraordinary.”
“Now it has been proved that the outgoing prime minister is going to become former. Take moral responsibility and resign. This is the message of this election,” he said in a post on X.
Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most politically significant state with 80 seats, threw up a stunning verdict. The alliance of SP and Congress turned the tables on the BJP in its strongest bastion by ensuring a consolidation of anti-BJP votes, limiting the party to leads in only 36 seats as against 62 it had won last time.
The Akhilesh Yadav-led SP was close behind with leads in 34 seats, a massive jump from the five in 2019.
As SP chief Akhilesh Yadav kept the INDIA bloc morale high in Uttar Pradesh, the Trinamool Congress, another key ally of the opposition alliance, was leading in 29 seats in West Bengal, a tad higher than its 22 in 2019.
The BJP, which had 18 seats in the last Lok Sabha election, was ahead in 12 seats.
Madhya Pradesh went fully saffron with the BJP winning or leading in all 29 seats. In Gujarat, too, BJP was winning or leading in 25 of 26 seats. The situation was not as decisive in other states.
In Bihar, the BJP was ahead in 12 and its partner Janata Dal (United) in 13, a vote of confidence for its leader Nitish Kumar who swung from INDIA back to the NDA ahead of the elections. The Rashtriya Janata Dal was poised to win four seats. In Rajasthan, BJP was ahead only in 14 seats, against all 25 its alliance won last time.
The Congress was ahead in eight. Haryana also threw up a shock result for the BJP, where the party was leading only in five and the Congress in five.
In 2019, the saffron party had bagged all 10. It appeared that the election marked a return to regular politics, where voters were more concerned about bread and butter issues, especially in some Hindi heartland states where the opposition INDIA alliance managed to rally supporters around the issues of unemployment and price rise.
(With PTI inputs)
