Counting of votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is underway and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA is leading in the counting of ballots. BJP is leading in 244 seats, leading NDA to 297, while Congress is leading in 86 seats. Bloc INDIA is leading in 207 seats as per initial count. The half-way mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha is 272.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is eyeing a record third consecutive term in power amid opposition bloc INDIA hoping for a surprise. The Lok Sabha election results today will bring down the curtain on the 80-day long marathon poll exercise.
LEADING CANDIDATES: WHO LEADS, WHO FOLLOWS?
- Waiting β Narendra Modi, BJP, Varanasi, UP
- Waiting β Amit Shah, BJP, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
- lead β Rahul Gandhi, Congress, Wayanad, Kerala
- lead β Rahul Gandhi, Congress, Raebareli, UP
- lead β Nitin Gadkari, BJP, Nagpur, Maharashtra
- lead β Rajnath Singh, BJP, Lucknow, UP
- Waiting β Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, Congress, Baharampur, West Bengal
- lead β Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party, Kannauj, UP
- Waiting β Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP, Vidisha, MPA
- Waiting β Mahua Moitra, TMC, Krishnanagar, West Bengal
- Waiting β Piyush Goyal, BJP, Mumbai North, Maharashtra
- Trailing β Smriti Irani, BJP, Amethi, UP
- Waiting β O Panneerselvam, Independent, Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu
- lead – Deepender Hooda, Congress, Rohtak, Haryana
- Waiting β Kanhaiya Kumar, Congress, North East Delhi, Delhi
- Trailing β Naveen Jindal, BJP, Kurukshetra, Haryana
- lead β Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM, Hyderabad, Telangana
- Waiting β Narayan Rane, BJP, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Maharashtra
- Waiting β Digvijaya Singh, Congress, Rajgarh, MP
- Waiting β Shashi Tharoor, Congress, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
- Waiting β Pappu Yadav, Independent, Purnia, Bihar
- Waiting β Rajeev Chandrashekhar, BJP, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
- Waiting β Om Birla, BJP, Kota, Rajasthan
- Waiting β Nakul Nath, Congress, Chindwara, MP
- Waiting β Hema Malini, BJP, Mathura, UP
- Waiting β HD Kumaraswamy, JDS, Mandya, Karnataka
- Waiting β Bhupesh Baghel, Congress, Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh
- Trailing β Arun Govil, BJP, Meerut, UP
- Waiting β Md Salim, CPM, Murshidabad, West Bengal
- Trailing – Omar Abdullah, National Conference, Baramulla, J&K
- Waiting β YS Sharmila, Congress, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh
- Waiting β Yusuf Pathan, TMC, Baharampur, West Bengal
- Waiting β Dev, TMC, Ghatal, West Bengal
- Waiting β Raj Babbar, Congress, Gurgaon, Haryana
- Waiting β Somnath Bharti, AAP, New Delhi, Delhi
- Waiting β Kangana Ranaut, BJP, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh
- Trailing β Mehbooba Mufti, PDP, Anantnag-Rajouri, J&K
- Waiting β Ravi Kishan, BJP, Gorakhpur, UP
- Waiting β Sougata Ray, TMC, Dum Dum, West Bengal
- Waiting β Vikramaditya Singh, Congress, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh
- lead β Chandrababu Naidu, TDP, Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh
- lead β Pawan Kalyan, Jana Sena, Pithapuram, Andhra Pradesh
- lead – Prajwal Revanna, JDS, Hassan, Karnataka
- lead – Sunetra Pawar, Ajit Pawar NCP, Baramati, Maharashtra
- Trailing – Supriya Sule, Sharad Pawar NCP, Baramati, Maharashtra
- lead – Bansuri Swaraj, BJP, New Delhi, Delhi
- lead – Tejasvi Surya, BJP, Bangalore South, Karnataka
- lead – Jyotiraditya Scindia, BJP, Guna, MP
- Trailing – K Annamalai, BJP, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
THE VARANASI LOK SABHA SEAT IS AMONG THE MOST VIEWED
While PM Narendra Modi is certain to win the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, all eyes are on the margin of victory. BJP this time calling for PM to win from temple town by 10 lakh votes.
In a video message to the voters of Varanasi, the prime minister said representing Kashi, the cultural capital of the world and the land of music and ‘Shastrarth’ (debate), in Parliament was possible only because of Baba Vishwanath’s boundless grace. and the blessing of the people in the holy city.
Modi won election from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In this year’s elections, he was challenged by Congress candidate Ajay Rai.
What the EXIT POLL said
Although most exit polls, including the News18 Mega Exit Poll, have predicted the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to win, much is at stake for the ruling alliance on the scale of its victory and new pockets of influence. Opposition stakes are still higher amid shrinking national footprint.
Exit polls have been unanimous in predicting that the NDA is closer to realizing Modi’s ambitious target of “400 paar” for the alliance than the INDIA bloc to cross even 180 marks, one-third of the number of seats.
Although the election results have historically been accepted, even grudgingly, by all parties, there is a clear edge to the questions raised by the opposition parties during the polling process, including the Election Commission (EC).
INDIA bloc leaders, who have raised doubts about electronic voting machines (EVMs), accused the Prime Minister of sending a signal to the bureaucracy through this “fantasy” exit poll and advanced it to the EC, asking the poll watchers to follow the rules. counting guidelines.
In a counterattack, the BJP accused its rivals of trying to undermine the integrity of India’s electoral process and asked the EC to prevent attempts at “violence and unrest” during the counting of votes.
RECAP OF THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN
PM Modi launched the BJP’s campaign on the “politics of appeasement” of the opposition, accusing the Congress and its allies of handing over reservation quotas for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to Muslims and allegedly eyeing people’s family assets to further their “redistribution of wealth” agenda.
Issues of national and cultural pride, the government’s welfare plans and overall political stability and economic growth were also reflected in the speeches of BJP leaders, although they were accused by the opposition of running a divisive and communal campaign to polarize votes.
The EC has rejected opposition attacks on poll conduct, with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar daring Monday to show evidence of attempts to influence the polling process.
WHAT IS PRESIDENT
The results will show that the Congress has the organization and leadership to challenge the BJP amid its shrinking footprint across the country since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It has failed to gain main opposition party status in two consecutive Lok Sabha polls and has been reduced to a pale shadow in some countries, especially in the Hindi region.
The leaders, including president Mallikarjun Kharge and chief campaigner Rahul Gandhi, said the alliance would win 295 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, signaling the end of the Modi era.
INDIA bloc leaders believe that the alliance can create a poll narrative about the welfare state and the alleged threat to the Constitution from the powerful saffron onslaught, and will garner popular support.
PM Narendra Modi will equal the record of the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who led his party to three straight election victories if the BJP retains power.
The uncertain future also depends on the fate of the Left, besides many regional parties including Trinamool Congress (TMC), Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and YSR Congress, which are in power in West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
Modi has led the BJP’s joint push to increase its power in the two eastern states, where the party has surprised everyone by emerging as a strong second force in 2019, and polls have suggested it could topple the two regional parties from the top. position in this poll.
Another issue attracting attention is whether the BJP will be able to emerge as a strong force in Left-ruled Tamil Nadu and Kerala, two states where it currently has no seats but is predicted to win some time this time.
A poor showing by the Left will further darken its prospects nationwide as Kerala is the only state that remains a strong force after being defeated in its former strongholds of Bengal and Tripura.
BIG NAMES TO WATCH
The result is also expected to determine the people’s verdict on the fate of regional stalwarts like Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, whose parties have aligned with the BJP and who have campaigned hard to win popular support for their faction.
The verdict will also go to several Union ministers, including Piyush Goyal, Bhupender Yadav, Sarbananda Sonowal and Dharmendra Pradhan, all Rajya Sabha members who were asked by the BJP to contest the polls, and former chief ministers, such as BJP’s Shivraj Singh. Chouhan, Basavaraj Bommai, Trivendra Singh Rawat and the Congress’s Digvijay Singh and Bhupesh Baghel.
Besides Modi, who is contesting the election from Varanasi for the third time in a row, senior members of the cabinet, such as Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, are in the fray, and their margin of victory will also be watched.