The results of the 18th Lok Sabha Elections, declared on Tuesday, June 4th, favoured the BJP, albeit with a diminished seat tally and dependence on its coalition partners to form the government. Narendra Modi is set to become the Prime Minister for the third consecutive time, a feat previously achieved only by Jawaharlal Nehru. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) managed to surpass the 272 majority mark by amassing a total of 293 seats, with the BJP alone winning 240 seats. However, they faced significant opposition from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), which won 233 seats. The Rahul Gandhi-led Congress mustered 99 seats, almost doubling their previous tally. Uttar Pradesh proved to be a surprising roadblock for the BJP in its efforts to surpass the majority mark on its own. In the last two elections, BJP had a stronghold over the state. But this time, the party could bag only 33 of the 80 seats in the politically crucial state and lost in some high-profile constituencies such as Ayodhya and Amethi. Out of the 43 seats the INDIA alliance won, the Samajwadi Party bagged 37 and the Congress six, remarkably improving their tally from five to one in 2019, respectively. The results of the 2024 elections show how the BJP’s absolute domination of the Hindi heartland has been breached. Haryana and Rajasthan – two states where the saffron party managed a clean sweep in 2019 – proved to be a thorn in its side, with the party only managing to win five and 14 seats, respectively. In West Bengal, too, the BJP suffered a setback, with its tally reducing to 12 from the high of 18 in 2019. The 2019 general elections witnessed the domination of the BJP as they single-handedly achieved a majority with 303 seats. The BJP-led NDA amassed a total of 353 seats. Congress failed to claim the Leader of the Opposition post as they got 52 seats, falling short of the required 10%. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won 92 seats, while the other parties won 98. The 2024 general election witnessed the resurgence of Congress, as it just fell short of the 100-seat mark. The Congress-led INDIA grouping became a major challenger to a dominant NDA. BJP regressed from 303 to 240, failing to achieve a majority of its own. With that, the party has to rely on its allies for government formation, with JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar and TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu being the key ones. "Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi standing united and strong after the Lok Sabha election results.📸: @RahulGandhi" Rahul Gandhi’s loss in Amethi in 2019 to Smriti Irani was seen as surprising. This time around, the Congress fielded Kishori Lal to contest against BJP’s Irani. Despite Gandhi’s absence, Congress recorded a comfortable victory against the outgoing Union Minister by a margin of 1.67 lakh votes. Meanwhile, Gandhi secured massive wins for the Congress in Rae Bareli and Wayanad. Congress representative Shashi Tharoor’s victory over BJP candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram was also notable. The recorded votes for Chandrasekhar demonstrated the growing presence of the BJP in Kerala despite the loss. This was also reflected in actor Suresh Gopi’s victory as the BJP candidate in Thrissur. Even though he trailed in very early trends, Narendra Modi secured a comfortable victory in Varanasi, albeit with a reduced margin. The BJP’s slogan of “Ab ki baar, 400 paar” was stopped early in its tracks as the vote counting began. INDIA’s strong fight restricted NDA to 293 seats, with BJP failing to achieve their own target of 370 seats by a wide margin.
The elections took place from April 19th to June 1st in seven phases, spanning 44 days – the longest election schedule after the one in 1951- 52.UP Springs a Surprise
A Shift in Political Dynamics from 2019 to 2024
Key Contests
The results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections stood in sharp contrast with the predictions of the exit polls that were released after voting concluded in the last phase of elections. These polls predicted a comfortable victory for the NDA. Major pollsters projected around 350 seats for the NDA, some even backing their target of 400+ seats.
05 Jun 2024
Aryan Gupta
