Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets supporters during a roadshow in Varanasi during the Indian elections in May. Credit – Rajesh Kumar – AP Photo
AAfter six long weeks of voting in grueling heat, India’s elections have produced stunning results.
With all 640 million wishes now counted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to preside over a rare third consecutive term in power – making him only the second Indian prime minister to do so, after Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962. With all His allies, Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also managed to secure a majority of 283 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. In India’s electoral system, the party or alliance that wins more than 272 seats can form a government.
However, the results shocked most researchers and Modi’s supporters – and, indeed, the country. This is because the BJP won just 240 seats in this election, effectively losing the single-party majority that Modi had enjoyed since he was first elected in 2014.
“Modi will have to act in a more consultative, deliberative and inclusive way,” says Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “This is anathema to the prime minister who, since his days as chief minister of Gujarat, has never had to truly worry about coalition politics.”
As the elections draw to a close, it has brought with it a series of waves that will reshape India’s political landscape for the next five years and beyond. But ask any Indian about the election results and they will tell you that the country’s democracy is so vibrant that it never ceases to surprise. “Nobody knows anything about India. This is something you should know about India”, even one observer arrived. posted about X.
Here are some of the most surprising takeaways from India’s 2024 elections.
Breaking Modi’s “400 paar” promise
In this election, Modi and the BJP used an ambitious slogan: “Ab ki baar, 400 paar”. This meant that the ruling party aimed to win over 400 seats with its NDA alliance – which ultimately backfired as the BJP did not even get a simple majority on its own, a complete departure from the BJP’s resounding victory. in 2019, when he won an unprecedented 303 seats. The result also means an unprecedented electoral impasse for Modi, who in his 23 years in politics as chief minister of the state of Gujarat since 2002 and then as prime minister of India since 2014, fell far short of the majority, despite everything. appearing as the central face of the BJP campaign (in the BJP’s 48-page manifesto, Modi’s name appears 67 times).
BJP loses stronghold in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, has a significant influence on Indian elections, with 80 parliamentary seats. In 2014 and 2019, the BJP won 71 and 62 seats respectively, which helped fuel the party’s rise to power in Delhi. But 2024 looks very different. The BJP won just 33 seats, while its allies secured three seats. Most notably, he lost in the Faizabad constituency, where Modi inaugurated the Ram temple in Ayodhya earlier this year, seen as a centerpiece of the BJP campaign.
BJP wins a seat in Kerala for the first time
O southern state from Kerala has long been seen as a bastion of the Left, but the BJP finally made inroads after Suresh Gopi won by a margin of 74,686 votes in the Thrissur constituency and became the BJP’s first Lok Sabha MP from Kerala. Experts say this may reflect Islamaphobic elements among Christian communities in Kerala, where Hindus make up 55% of the state’s population, while Muslims and Christians make up 27% and 18%, respectively.
Female voters prefer Modi
Indian women, who have become a formidable force in electoral participation in India because political knowledge, literacy and media exposure. Traditionally, female voters were more inclined to vote for the Congress, but in the last elections they redirected their votes to the BJP. A pre-vote survey foreseen that 46% of India’s 472 million women voters would opt for the BJP-led alliance in the elections. The reason: Modi’s welfare programs, which have focused on women’s well-being — including cash handouts and household benefits like free cooking gas, piped water and sanitation.
A Sikh separatist and Kashmiri leader is elected from prison
Amritpal Singh, a 31-year-old Sikh separatist leader who was arrested last year after a month-long police manhunt in Punjab state, was elected lawmaker after defeating 26 other candidates. Singh rose to prominence by calling for a separate Sikh homeland known as Khalistan. Sheikh Abdul Rashid, another imprisoned leader from Indian-administered Kashmir in the disputed Himalayan region, won a seat by more than 200,000 votes. The former state lawmaker was arrested by the Modi government on charges of “terror financing” and money laundering in 2019.
Write to Astha Rajvanshi in astha.rajvanshi@time.com.
