After a full day of fluctuating trends, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged as the largest winning party with 240 seats and the National Developmental Alliance (NDA) received 290 seats and is set to form the government for the third consecutive term. However, PM Modi's BJP completely missed the target of 400 which was also the signature slogan of the party for the 2024 general election campaigning ‘Abki Baar 400 Paar’.
Despite this being fewer than anticipated, the BJP maintained a decisive lead over the opposition alliance or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc along with significant upsets across various constituencies. For the first time, since the BJP took to power to power in 2014 under PM Modi's leadership, it did not secure a majority on its own.
Yogi's Uttar Pradesh: The Gamechanger
The most surprising results came from Uttar Pradesh where the Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party ( SP) won 37 seats and received the big win. In the 2019 LS elections, UP became the biggest state to help the BJP gain the exact mandate with 62 seats but this time they managed to win only 33.
With this mandate in UP, the INDIA bloc is overjoyed and claims this win belongs to the victory of the constitution and Indian democracy. According to political experts, the setback of the BJP has many factors but the division of Hindu voters is one of the major ones. The result has also shown that voters have not prioritised the establishment of the humongous Ram temple among their agenda for the LS election 2024.
Among other important seats of UP, those were anticipated to come in the side of the BJP also ditched them as Smriti Irani lost to Congress candidate KL Sharma by 167196 votes. Interestingly, the BJP did not even manage to secure the Faizabad seat and lost to SP by 54567 votes.
West Bengal is another state which was expected to perform better but 29 out of 42 constituencies have gone with Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) again. After the results, the WB Chief Minister demanded PM Modi's resignation and said that he had lost his credibility since he had said that he would cross 400 seats but could not.
States With BJP Only
When UP did not give the expected results to the BJP, states like Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have given a clean sweep to Modi’s leadership. Bollywood actress turned politician Kangana Ranaut made a stunning debut and won against Congress' Vikramaditya Singh by 74,755 votes in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, Himachal constituency.
In MP, BJP leader and former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan secured victory by a margin of 8,21,408 votes against Congress's Prataphanu Sharma from the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat.
Trustworthy EVMs And Dance Of Democracy
The main opposition party in the last ten years, Congress is no longer complaining about the credibility of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). As per their demand, the Election Commission has already instructed to begin the counting with the postal ballots.
The results of the general election 2024 have shown the strength of Indian democracy and also reflected the multiple dimensions; one interesting trend took place in Indore has barely happened in the democratic history of India where the NOTA emerged as the second hero after winning candidate of BJP.
In an unsettling development for several in the world's largest democracy, a jailed pro-Kahlistani leader won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab by 197120 votes. Whereas the public completely rejects the rape accuse Prajwal Revanna contesting from Hassan.
By the evening, NDA showed a clear majority mandate of 293 seats and the INDIA bloc remained with 233 seats. As the BJP fell short of a majority, they will have to step ahead with their allies. The mandate also clarifies the third time rejection of the oldest Congress party as they solely could not cross the century seats, it is high time for Congress to introspect that after Bharat Jodo Yatra and 10 years of BJP could not get them the blank seat.
Assembly Polls Say ‘Yes’ To BJP
The three assembly poll results were also announced, in which BJP has ousted the long-ruling party of Naveen Patnaik with 78 seats. While in Andhra Pradesh, Chandra Babu Naidu is set to form the government with 135 seats. Arunachal Pradesh has again chosen the BJP with a clear majority of 46 out of 60 seats.
Whether the general poll result has robust the people’s trust in India’s democracy or not, it directly signifies that factors like caste, religion and region are still overshadowing Indians' mindset when they go to vote. No clear mandate to a party can take us to the era of unstable government like 2004 where scams and terrorist attacks were the daily affairs.
As of now, for the third consecutive term, Narendra Modi is going to form the government with the support of his NDA allies - JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar and TDP's chief Chandrababu Naidu, falling 32 seats short of the 272 majority mark. But as Indian politics is known for its sudden turn, it can lead anywhere. If the BJP misses the target, so is the INDIA bloc as they have claimed throughout the election to oust the BJP from power but could not succeed yet.
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