NEW DELHI, June 4: The Lok Sabha election results, unlike the Exit Polls that gave 350 plus seats to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), dealt a strong blow to the party’s dreams of winning ‘370 seats’ on its own and the ‘400 paar’ target for the NDA on Tuesday.
The Lok Sabha election results announced on Tuesday sprang a surprise even for the pollsters, as most of them predicted a one-sided outcome in favour of the BJP-led NDA. Till the last reports came in, the INDIA bloc was leading on around 230 seats, while the NDA was ahead of the majority mark with leads on over 290 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
As per the ECI update at midnight, the BJP-led NDA crossed the majority mark in the Lok Sabha elections by winning 273 seats.
While results for 498 seats were declared by the ECI, counting on 45 seats was still on.
According to the tally on the ECI website, the BJP has already won 226 seats, and its allies TDP and JDU won 12 seats each, Shiv Sena 7, LJP (Ram Vilas) 5 and JDS and RLD two seats each.
Other NDA partners including Jana Sena, NCP, UPPL, AJSU, HAMS, SKM and Apna Dal (Sone Lal) have won one seat each.
The BJP had already won the Surat Lok Sabha seat unopposed.
As per the latest tally, the BJP was leading in 12 more seats, while TDP was leading in four more seats and some other NDA partners were also leading in some seats.
Though the BJP looks well positioned to form the government at the Centre, the electoral “setback” prompted a multitude of reactions from the Opposition parties, which called it a rejection of the Modi government by the electorate.
They also claimed that the Congress-led INDIA bloc has thrown a spanner in the BJP’s gameplans and thwarted its dream run.
Even if one sees the results as a setback, there are two clear reasons for the BJP to cheer. The first is BJP’s ‘highest’ vote percentage in all three terms since 2014, and the second is PM Modi readying to become the only Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to get a record third straight term in office.
The biggest takeaways from the elections are BJP’s return to power for a record third straight term, the party managing to keep its vote share intact at around 37 per cent, and a resurgent Opposition under the INDIA bloc banner making a valiant comeback.
The Congress put up a strong fight against the BJP’s electoral might to double its tally as compared to 2019, fetching close to 100 seats on its own.
Together with the allies, the INDIA bloc is placed comfortably with around 230 seats, just 40-45 seats short of the magical mark of 272.
The BJP, on the other hand, looks like the ‘biggest loser’ because of its lowest number of seats in all three terms since 2014. Together with its allies like the JD(U) and TDP, the NDA alliance is best suited to get around 290-95 seats, still falling short by at least 100 seats as against its ‘400 paar’ target.
The saffron party which once looked ‘overwhelming and overpowering’ for its rivals is now being viewed as vulnerable, apparently because of coalition compulsions.
Constitution our guiding light,
will work for Viksit Bharat: Modi
Preparing to take office for a record third consecutive term, Modi on Tuesday pledged to work with all states, regardless of the party in power, to build a developed India.
In his first speech after the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Modi laid out his vision for the third term saying it would be a tenure of big decisions and key emphasis would be on uprooting corruption.
“The fight against corruption is becoming tougher by the day. Corruption is being shamelessly glorified for political interest. In our third term, NDA will focus a lot on rooting out corruption of all kinds,” Modi said.
Modi’s speech did not refer to its reduced numbers in Parliament but focussed on the “clean sweep” victories in assembly elections as well as Lok Sabha wins in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. (Agencies)
