Lok Sabha Elections Result 2024 Highlights: INDIA bloc makes a comeback in several Hindi heartland states | India News

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha election results 2024 have given mandate to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA alliance to form the government for the third consecutive term. But the rise of the opposition’s INDIA bloc is the story of the day.
BJP, on its own, appeared to be falling short of the majority mark with leads in 236 seats, despite making notable gains in Odisha, Telangana, and Kerala.These gains provide some consolation to the party after the unexpected losses in the Hindi belt.
Rival INDIA alliance, united by their shared opposition to the BJP and its ideology, however has made an impressive comeback in several Hindi heartland states. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in a press conference, said the people have rejected PM Modi.
“It looks like not only a political defeat but a moral defeat for the prime minister,” said Congress party spokesman and senior leader Jairam Ramesh.

The final numbers are also likely to fall significantly short of the ‘400-paar’ predictions by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ‘370-paar’ for the BJP.
If this trend continues, BJP will have to rely heavily on its allies like Telugu Desam Party, Janata Dal (United), and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena to maintain a majority in the Lok Sabha.
Some notable developments include Union minister Smriti Irani trailing in Amethi and Maneka Gandhi trailing in Sultanpur. Union minister Nitin Gadkari is leading by a narrow margin in Nagpur.
The BJP-led NDA was making significant strides in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, while the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu and the Congress-led coalition in Kerala were poised for another impressive performance.
In Uttar Pradesh, the INDIA bloc and the NDA are locked in a neck and neck fight with Akhilesh Yadav‘s Samajwadi Party making a strong comeback in the state. The Congress is also making gains. The grand old party which had won just one seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, is ahead in 8 seats as of now.
Another key swing state for the INDIA bloc is Maharashtra where Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar have performed better than the party’s breakaway factions giving the opposition MVA an edge over the BJP and its allies. In Rajasthan also, the BJP is ahead only in 14 seats as of now. The Congress has put up a strong show in the state and is leading in 8 seats. The BJP had won 24 out of the 25 seats in Rajasthan in 2019.
In accordance with the Conduct of Election Rules, postal ballots are being counted first, followed by the counting of votes recorded in electronic voting machines (EVMs) after a 30-minute interval. The counting process for postal ballots and EVMs will proceed simultaneously. The Lok Sabha has 543 members, but counting is being conducted for 542 seats due to the unopposed election of BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal in Surat.
Alongside the Lok Sabha elections, counting is also underway for the assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, which were held concurrently with the Lok Sabha polls, had their results declared on June 2.
To ensure greater transparency, VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) slips from five randomly selected polling stations per assembly constituency or segment in the case of Lok Sabha seats are being matched with the EVM count. This practice has been in place since 2019.
In the previous elections, BJP had secured 303 seats on its own, while NDA had over 350.