R ARIVANANTHAM
NEW DELHI/CHENNAI/AHMEDABAD, JUNE 4
With no party is getting absolute majority in the Lok Sabha polls, it is the victory for the as the opposition’s India bloc emerged stronger, but the NDA led by the saffron party BJP is set to form government for the third consecutive time.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the Varanasi seat for the third consecutive term by defeating Congress candidate Ajay Rai.
The victory margin of Modi this time is 1,52,513, which is less than his victory margins of 2019 and 2014.
Commenting on the poll outcome, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said that the Lok Sabha election outcome was a blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a political and moral defeat of the BJP.
- Modi wins from Varanasi for 3rd consecutive term with lowest margin
- Lok Sabha election results a moral defeat for PM Modi, BJP: Kharge
- We made issues like inflation, unemployment, the plight of farmers and labourers, and misuse of constitutional institutions central issues: Congress chief
While addressing a press conference, Kharge said the results were a victory for the people and for democracy.
The BJP-led NDA was ahead in over 290 seats, while the opposition INDIA bloc was leading in 232 parliamentary seats.
“This is public’s result and the public’s and democracy’s victory. We had been saying that this battle is between the public and Modi. We humbly accept the people’s mandate,” Kharge told reporters at the AICC headquarters flanked by Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
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Kharge said the voters did not give a complete majority to any single party, particularly the BJP that sought votes on the basis of ‘one person, one face’.
“This is their (BJP’s) political and moral defeat,” he said. “We named 5 Nyay and 25 guarantees. On this basis, we made a guarantee card. Our workers went door to door with it,” said Kharge.
Congress party’s campaign was positive from the beginning to the end. “We made issues like inflation, unemployment, the plight of farmers and labourers, and misuse of constitutional institutions central issues…The public understood the lies that Modiji spread about the Congress manifesto,” said Congress chief.
The third round of counting saw BJP falling short of securing majority of its own by nearly 32 seats as trend sustained even 11 hours after the counting began. The BJP numbers hovered around 240, which means that BJP secured 63 seats less than the 2019 verdict of 303 seats. However, with NDA allies like Chandra Babu Naidu’s TDP, Nitish Kumar’s JDU, Chirag Paswan’s LJP (RV) among others, the alliance numbers were over 290, including the seats where they were leading.
The BJP leaders expressed confidence that all the alliance partners would stay within the grouping thus giving Narendra Modi a chance to form the government for the third time.
People have placed their faith in NDA, for a third consecutive time! This is a historical feat in India’s history.
I bow to the Janata Janardan for this affection and assure them that we will continue the good work done in the last decade to keep fulfilling the aspirations of…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 4, 2024
Accepting the verdict, Modi wrote on the microblogging site, X, “People have placed their faith in NDA, for a third consecutive time! This is a historical feat in India’s history. I bow to the Janata Janardan for this affection and assure them that we will continue the good work done in the last decade to keep fulfilling the aspirations of people. I also salute all our Karyakartas for their hard work. Words will never do justice to their exceptional efforts.”
Home Minister Amit Shah thanked the BJP cadre for their hardwork who made victory possible for the party. “For BJP, workers are the biggest asset. The way you took Modi’s message from North to South, East to West, is worthy of appreciation.”
The rise of SP and Congress that, too, after the consecration of Ram Temple and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s tough administration would make the BJP do some introspection. The key losses in the state were the loss of Faizabad seat where Ayodhya falls and Smriti Irani losing from the Amethi seat.
Uttar Pradesh gave biggest gains to Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party and Congress. Congress became the second largest party in the country, close to clocking a century, while SP with its 38 seats is the third largest party.
The big gains for the BJP came from Odisha where the party will form the government for the first time and has even netted 19 seats in Lok Sabha. Similar gains in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where BJP was on way to double its tally, and winning a seat in Kerala, marked that BJP’s south focus have had success.
