By Countercurrents Collective
After ruling for 10 years India’s right-wing Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to make a decisive majority in India’s 543 member parliament. As per the latest trends BJP is leading in 240 seats, 30 short of a simple majority. However, the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is leading in 290 seats, just over the majority mark. However, the equations may change as the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) are leading in 234 seats. Independents and other smaller political parties are leading in 19 seats. One can not rule out the possibility of one or other political parties in either of these alliances switching sides and forming a government.
The results are a huge setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had campaigned for 400 seats for BJP in this election. He had asked the voters to give him 400 seats in this election so that he could make necessary policy reforms without hindrances of alliance partners. However, BJP’s tally was reduced to 240 seats, making sure that the next government in India would be a coalition government.
Indian National Congress is the second biggest party with 98 seats.
BJP got a huge setback as it could secure only 38 seats in the decisive Uttar Pradesh where there are 80 seats. Samajwadi Party won 41 seats in Uttar Pradesh.
4 June 2024
Source: countercurrents.org