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06-06-2024
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces a tougher-than-anticipated third term after his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to secure an outright majority for the first time since sweeping to power a decade ago.
The BJP won 240 seats in the staggered election, 32 short of the halfway mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, making the right-wing party dependent on its allies to form the government.
In a remarkable turnaround, the main opposition Indian National Congress party won 99 seats, almost doubling its 2019 tally of 52.
The Congress-led INDIA alliance won 223 seats and its members are also likely to meet in New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss a future course of action.
BJP lost its national majority after suffering major losses in key states, marking a dramatic shift in a political landscape it has dominated for the past decade.
The BJP emerged, comfortably, as the country’s single-largest party in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament. But as India’s election authorities counted 640 million votes within a day on Tuesday, after a six-week-long election, the BJP fell well short of its performances from 2014 and 2019.
India’s election officials counted 640 million votes on Tuesday to declare the results of the country’s mammoth seven-phase election.
The vote count started at 8am local time (02:30 GMT), and all votes for 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament were counted by the end of the day on June 4.
While exit polls had predicted a landslide win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the final outcome was a lot closer. The BJP emerged as the single largest party but fell short of a majority on its own. The alliance it leads did cross the halfway mark of 272 seats.
Meanwhile, the opposition INDIA alliance, led by the Congress party, performed better than exit polls had projected.
According to the latest updates from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
BJP and allies-283, Congress and allies-223 & others-37
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), comprises more than three dozen parties and is expected, by exit polls, to win a majority in the general election. Modi, 73, who has been in power since 2014, is seeking a third term.
The opposition INDIA alliance, led by the Indian National Congress (INC) party, is a group of more than two dozen political parties hoping to remove the BJP’s Hindu majoritarian government.
Since 2004, India has used electronic voting machines (EVMs) instead of paper ballots.
These machines, which are not connected to the internet, have been sealed and stored in a strongroom in the parliamentary constituency.
On the day of counting, the EVMs are taken out and unsealed in the presence of representatives from all participating political parties.
An estimated 969 million people were registered to vote in the world’s largest democratic exercise. According to the ECI, 640 million people voted.
To facilitate the process, the voting took place over seven phases from April 19 to June 1.
There are 543 directly elected seats in the national assembly called the Lok Sabha, and two seats are nominated by the president. To form the parliament, the winning party or alliance must have 272 seats. The prime minister is elected by the parliament as the leader of the house.
