New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party is set for a resounding comeback as leads and wins pouring in from all over the country have given the party and its allies an absolute majority for a second term.
The BJP reached the half way mark on its own like last term, but was set to increase 2014’s 282 seats with at least a dozen more.
Narendra Modi created history by becoming the only non-Congress Prime Minister to have stomped back to power.
The Congress and allies bettered their tally from 2014, but came a very distant second. The Congress managed 50 odd seats, marginally better than 2014’s 44.
The non-aligned parties were also not putting up much of a show, losing ground from last term.
The BJP and its allies were leading in 348 (-4) seats, Congress and allies in 90 (+25) and the non-aligned parties in 104 (-21) seats.
The BJP’s lead was 300, 18 more than 2014. In fact, the party has come to power on its own again. It is a first in more than three decades that a single party has won majority on its own in two consecutive terms.
The BJP swept the Hindi heartland states (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh) and made significant inroads in West Bengal, Odisha and Karnataka.
In the south, the BJP handsomely scored in Karnataka – ruled by the JD(S)-Congress combine that completes one year today. The alliance has had a bad showing these elections.
It also easily won Gujarat, Delhi, Bihar and Maharashtra. The Congress got Punjab and Tamil Nadu, where it has teamed up with Stalin’s DMK.
The SP-BSP mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh was a big failure. They may well stop short at 19/20. The fabled arithmetic failed to live up to its promise as the BJP moved sure-footedly towards the number 60. A good showing in Uttar Pradesh is essential for any party or alliance hoping to rule at the Centre.
In West Bengal, though Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee is ahead, the BJP has made huge inroads, inching towards 15 or 16 of the state’s 42 seats.
Trends also show that the Opposition’s bid to create an alternate dispensation has come a cropper with most regional parties failing.
In Andhra Pradesh, the YSR Congress is set to assume power as Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP has been wiped out. The YSR Congress is ahead in all 25 Lok Sabha constituencies too, apart from getting nearly 150 Assembly seats from 175.
In Tamil Nadu, however, the DMK-Congress alliance is much ahead of the AIADMK and the BJP, which tied up weeks ahead of the elections. A similar showing in the by-elections for 18 assembly seats could topple the AIADMK government led by E Palaniswami.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was leading from Varanasi. Congress president Rahul Gandhi was trailing in Amethi against BJP’s Smriti Irani, but leading from Wayanad in Kerala. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was leading from Rae Bareli.
Elections were held in 542 of 543 seats and a party needs 272 seats to form government.
It has been a seven-phase polling from April 11 to May 19 with leaders stomping all over the country, holding rallies and enthusing people to vote.
As many as five exit polls on Sunday projected that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was all set to retain power at the Centre, riding yet another ‘Narendra Modi wave’.
This, despite the Congress-led Opposition making frenetic efforts to dent the Modi citadel by raising issues like corruption, unemployment, demonetisation and inflation.
Exit polls that predicted that NDA may fall short of majority numbers were in a poor minority.
Voting for the marathon seven-phase elections logged a record final turnout of 67.37 per cent in 542 Parliamentary constituencies. There was an increase of 1.3 per cent in overall voting turnout this time. Even Mumbai, known to be a laggard at voting, showcased its best performance in three decades at 55 per cent.
