In Ayodhya, where the Ram Temple was dedicated, the BJP accepts defeat; Rahul Gandhi claims that the people have “punished” the BJP.
As the general election vote counting concluded on Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alliance appeared destined for a slim majority; the vote total fell well short of the predicted landslide, dealing the populist leader a stunning blow.
The trends indicated that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was not able to secure a majority in the 543-member parliament. After a decade of Modi’s strong, authoritarian governance, having to rely on partners to form the government may add some unpredictability to decisions.
Exit surveys and commentators had predicted a huge win for Modi, whose campaign courted the nation’s 200 million or more Muslims, escalating worries over minority rights.
With agreements to run lone candidates against the BJP’s electoral might, the major opposition Congress party was poised to almost quadruple its number of parliamentary seats.
The BJP’s vote percentage, which was at 36.9 percent after more than 95% of the ballots were tabulated, was somewhat less than it was in the most recent 2019 elections.
By a margin of 152,000 votes, Modi was re-elected to his seat representing the Hindu holy city of Varanasi; this is in contrast to the over half a million votes he received five years prior.
The BJP and its allies were ahead in at least 292 seats out of a total of 543, according to election commission data, which is sufficient for a legislative majority.
However, the Congress had won or was ahead in 98, up from 52, and the BJP itself had only won or was leading in 240, a significant decrease from the 303 it required five years earlier.
After seven stages and a sweltering heat wave between April 19 and June 1, the 18th Lok Sabha elections were finally drawing to an end today with the ballots being tallied.
With 292 seats and 95% of the vote, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is in the lead.
BJP hoped that its coalition will secure at least 400 of the 543 seats that were up for grabs.
India, a coalition led by Congress, has so far gained 191 seats, defying expectations.
Uncertainty causes the Indian stock markets to decline by about 5%.
Earlier, the opposition INDIA coalition was ahead in more than 200 seats, greater than predicted, with just approximately 10–15 percent of the ballots cast having been tallied.
Early see-saw patterns made markets uneasy, resulting in sharp stock declines. At 5 a.m. GMT, the S&P BSE Sensex and the NIFTY 50 were both down more than 2%. Benchmark bond rates increased, while the value of the Indian rupee declined vs the US dollar.
After exit polls on June 1 predicted that Modi and his BJP would win handily, with its NDA expected to secure a two-thirds majority and beyond, the markets saw a sharp increase on Monday.
Mail ballots, or paper ballots, were the first to be counted. These were mostly cast by military personnel serving outside of their home districts or by elected officials who were away from home on election duty. In order to enable voters over 85 and those with impairments to cast ballots from home, postal votes were also made available this year.
After the first 30 minutes of counting postal ballots, the vast majority of votes cast via electronic voting machines, or EVMs, are counted, therefore the counting process is anticipated to take several hours.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera stated, “These are very early trends; as the day progresses, we will see better results.”
After the votes closed on June 1, TV exit polls predicted that Modi would win handily. However, exit polls have a history of predicting incorrect election results in India. Sixty-four million of the over one billion voters who were registered to vote actually cast ballots.
Modi said on social media that he had won a third term, notwithstanding the current results.
On social networking site X, Modi said, “People have placed their faith in NDA for a third consecutive time.” “This achievement is significant in the history of India.”
A decade after taking office as prime minister, Modi declared over the weekend that he was convinced “the people of India have voted in record numbers” to re-elect his administration.
