Elections
Lok Sabha Election: BJP’s big leads down, Congress wins by satisfactory margins
Summary
Lok Sabha election results: The BJP’s weaker seat share is reflected in much fewer landslide victories. The party is leading by more than a 30% margin on only 33 seats, as opposed to 72 seats in 2019.In a starkly different outcome from what the exit polls predicted, the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have lost popularity in the 2024 General Elections, leading in just 238 seats as per the latest trends, as compared to 303 in 2019. The Congress, meanwhile, has doubled its tally to lead in 100 seats, against just 52 in the 2019 elections.
The BJP’s weaker seat share is reflected in much fewer landslide victories this time. The party is leading by more than a 30% margin on only 33 seats, as opposed to 72 seats in 2019. It is leading on 67 seats with 15-30% margin, compared with 112 in 2019.
On the contrary, Congress has increased its high-margin seat tally to seven from four. The party is leading mostly by a 2-15% margin.
Also Read: Lok Sabha Election 2024: Modi leading in Varanasi with 55% votes
With this, the BJP has fallen below the majority mark of 272 for the first time in 10 years, but its alliance, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is above the mark at 290 seats. Conversely, the Opposition INDIA bloc is leading on over 200 seats, giving a tough fight to the two-time winner.
Exit polls had predicted 359-400 seats for the NDA and 107-167 for the I.N.D.I.A alliance.
BJP lost precious seats in this election that it had held previously in states such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Assam and Bihar. Congress, on the other hand, lost fewer seats, with maximum loss in Punjab of 3 seats namely Khadoor Sahib, Anandpur Sahib and Faridkot.
An analysis of vote and seat share data by Mint shows how the INDIA alliance has been successful in translating votes into seats. Even while accounting for 37% of total votes, its seat share is neck-and-neck with NDA. INDIA’s seat share stands at 42% vs NDA share of 54%. A break-up of the bloc’s votes shows the Congress has cornered maximum vote share at nearly 50%, followed by Samajwadi Party (14.3%) and Trinamool Congress (13.7% ).
