June 5, 2024
NEW DELHI – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Tuesday received a mandate to continue in office for a third consecutive term with the support of his political allies, even as the NDA alliance received a massive shock from the Congress-led INDIA, preventing him from reaching his target of 400 seats.
BJP-led NDA has won 291 seats against the requirement of 272 seats to form a government at the Centre. The BJP had 287 seats of its own in the 17th Lok Sabha, but this number has come down to 243 this time due to setbacks in several States.
While the Congress increased its own tally from 46 seats in the previous Lok Sabha to close to 100 seats in the 18th Lok Sabha, its INDIA alliance has secured a formidable strength of 233 seats to form a strong Opposition group in the next Lok Sabha. There was a strong swing in votes in favour of the Congress in several States.
Mr Modi won his Varanasi seat in Uttar Pradesh, defeating his Congress rival Ajay Rai by a margin of 1,52,513 votes, according to the Election Commission of India. The Prime Minister received 6,12,970 votes while Mr Rai received 4,60,457 votes.
Among the States where the BJP-led NDA suffered a major setback was Uttar Pradesh with the maximum number of 80 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP’s main rival Samajwadi Party secured 35 seats in the State. The INDIA alliance, of which the Samajwadi Party is a part, won 44 seats, including seven by the Congress Party. The BJP won 32 seats and its NDA partner Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) two.
The Prime Minister often described INDIA as an opportunistic alliance of political parties keen to get back to power somehow. He described Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as Shehzada (Prince) of the Congress ‘family’ and often dismissed him and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav as “two boys (ladke)” in his election speeches.
While the Mr Gandhi was set to retain the family bastion of Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh with a margin of nearly four lakh votes, and was winning his sitting Wayanad seat in Kerala with an equal margin, Mr Yadav was winning his Kannauj seat by over a lakh of votes. The Congress managed to wrest its old seat of Amethi where its Kishore Lal Sharma was set to defeat Union Minister Smriti Irani.
The NDA suffered reverses in West Bengal and Maharashtra also. Now it will have to rely heavily on support from parties like the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (U) which has won 12 seats in Bihar, the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam winning 16 Lok Sabha seats and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena with seven seats.
Only last March, Mr Nitish Kumar had assured the Prime Minister that he would remain steady with him in the NDA. “Hum phir aapke saath hai. I assure you that I will not go here and there. Hum rahenge aap hi ke saath,” he had said at a public rally.
In a significant breakthrough, the BJP successfully entered the Kerala political space when its Suresh Gopi winning the Thrissur seat with a margin of 74,686 votes, defeating, CPI’s V S Sunil Kumar and Congress’ K Muraleedharan. In Telangana with 17 Lok Sabha seats too, the BJP has won eight seats, along with eight by the Congress.
In Maharashtra, where the NDA has been in a political war against the INDIA, the NDA won just 17 of the total 48 seats. INDIA was winning 30 seats, including 12 by the Congress Party, nine by Shiv Sena (UBT) and seven by Sharad Pawar-led NCP. The BJP failed to make inroads into Tamil Nadu where the Prime Minister campaigned strongly
In West Bengal, BJP has come down from 18 to 12 seats, while the ruling Trinamul Congress of State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was set to win 29 of the total 42 seats in the State. The BJP has however done well in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
The BJP showed its sway over voters in Madhya Pradesh where it won all 29 seats in the State. Delhi has maintained its loyalty with the BJP and given all its seven seats to the party. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP was winning 10 of the 11 total seats, with just one going to the Congress.
In Haryana, however, the BJP and the Congress shared the 10 seats equally, each getting five. In Rajasthan with a total 25 seats, 14 have gone to BJP, eight to the Congress and one to the CPI (M). All four seats of Himachal Pradesh have gone to the BJP.
In the Andhra Pradesh Assembly election, the BJP’s ally Telugu Desam has won 132 seats in the 175 House while the ruling YSRCP has been routed with just 16, while the BJP got seven. Mr Chandrababu Naidu is taking oath as Chief Minister on 9 June, and he said the PM will attend.
In Odisha Assembly, the BJP has come to power on its own securing 75 seats in the 147-member House, with the ruling BJD reduced to 54, and the Congress getting 16.