new delhi, June 5: Results of the six-week-long election to the lower house of Indias Parliament started pouring in Tuesday morning
Results of the Indian general elections were out on Tuesday with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), winning a majority, even if their seat tally reduced significantly compared to the 2019 elections.
Counting of over 640 million votes that were cast in the 2024 Indian general elections began early on Tuesday. The polling to elect 543 members of the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Indian parliament, concluded on June 1.
The ruling BJP along with its allies was competing for a third term under Prime Minister Narendra Modis leadership. The Indian National Congress (INC), which has the second largest national footprint after the BJP, helped stitch a new coalition called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) last year, hoping to wrest power from Modi through a united opposition.
Elections were held in seven phases in constituencies spread across 36 states and federal territories.
The BJP seized power from the Congress and its allies with a decisive victory in 2014, marking the first time in three decades that a single party achieved a majority of its own. Its strength increased in the subsequent 2019 election. However, the party did not end up with enough seats this year to form a majority by itself.
Its previous victories had come from the more populous northern and western parts of India. It lost some of that turf to the Congress-led alliance this year.
Indias political landscape has significantly evolved over time. Until three decades ago, the Congress was the dominant force. However, the BJP began gaining substantial electoral strength and emerged as the leading party. Its wins in the 2014 and 2019 elections relegated Congress to historically low levels of influence, winning less than 10% of the seats each time. This year, however, the Congress almost doubled its tally.
All major exit polls had predicted a historic victory for the BJP, anticipating its best performance to date.
Note
Some allies of BJP and INC have changed between 2019 and 2024.
Sources
Election Commission of India; Trivedi Centre for Political Data; DataMeet; Natural Earth
—REUTERS
