The Congress, meanwhile, showed signs of an electoral revival after being decimated in 2014 and 2019 general elections at the hands of the BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s final seats tally for the Lok Sabha elections settled at 240, the Election Commission’s data revealed early Wednesday morning. The ruling party, which has dominated the country’s politics with successive victories in general and assembly elections under Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014, will now have to rely on the support of its NDA allies to form a government at the Centre as it fell short of the majority mark of 272.
The Congress, meanwhile, showed signs of an electoral revival after being decimated in 2014 and 2019 general elections at the hands of the BJP. The party, which was written off by the poll pundits ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 results, made a strong comeback by winning 99 seats.
The Congress nearly doubled its seats tally compared to 2019 general polls. The party had won 52 seats.
On the other hand, the BJP, which won 303 seats in the previous Lok Sabha polls, lost nearly 20 percent of its constituencies.
The exit polls had predicted the NDA would win over 350 seats, decimating the INDIA bloc. However, belying the pollsters, the Opposition’s experiment seems to have worked in states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party won 37 seats, emerging as the single-largest party. The Congress won 6 seats. The BJP, which had scored landslide victories in 2014 and 2019, won just 33 seats.
In Maharashtra, the Congress won 13 seats, Shiv Sena (UBT) won 9 and Sharad Pawar’s NCP won 8. The BJP-led alliance won just 17 seats.
The BJP, however, pulled off a stellar performance in Odisha, winning 20 of the state’s 21 Lok Sabha seats.
In Andhra Pradesh, BJP and its allies, TDP and Janasena, won 21 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats.
The Congress on Tuesday said the loss of seats marked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s moral defeat.
“This election results are ‘janta ka result’. This is the victory of people and the democracy. We were saying that the fight is Modi vs the people. In the 18th Lok Sabha election, we humbly accept the result. People have not given a full majority to any party. BJP asked to vote for one person, the mandate has gone against Modi. It is his political and moral loss. The person who sought votes on his name, it’s a huge loss for him,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said at a press conference.
PM Modi, however, called the poll results an “unprecedented moment in the history of India”. “The people of the country have expressed their trust in the NDA for the third consecutive time. This is an unprecedented moment in the history of India. I thank my family for their love and blessings. I assure the countrymen that to fulfil their aspirations, we will move forward with new energy, new enthusiasm, and new resolves,” PM Modi wrote on X.
Here’s the full list of how political parties performed in the Lok Sabha polls.
- BJP – 240
- Congress – 99
- Samajwadi Party – 37
- Trinamool Congress – 29
- DMK – 22
- TDP – 16
- JD(U) – 12
- Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey) – 9
- NCP (Sharad Pawar) 7, leading in 1
- Shiv Sena – 7
- Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) – 5
- YSRCP – 4
- RJD – 4
- CPI(M) – 4
- Indian Union Muslim League – 3
- AAP – 3
- Jharkhand Mukti Morcha – 3
- Janasena Party – 2
- CPI(ML)(L) – 2
- JD(S) – 2
- Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi – 2
- CPI – 2
- RLD – 2
- National Conference – 2
- United People’s Party, Liberal – 1
- Asom Gana Parishad – 1
- Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) – 1
- Kerala Congress – 1
- Revolutionary Socialist Party – 1
- NCP – 1
- Voice of the People Party – 1
- Zoram People’s Movement – 1
- Shiromani Akali Dal – 1
- Rashtriya Loktantrik Party – 1
- Bharat Adivasi Party – 1
- Sikkim Krantikari Morcha – 1
- Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam – 1
- Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) – 1
- Apna Dal (Soneylal) – 1
- AJSU Party – 1
- AIMIM – 1
- Independent – 7
With just over 290 seats, the National Democratic Alliance has a slim majority. After winning over 230 seats, the INDIA bloc might make attempts to win the support of the BJP’s allies like TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U).
