New Delhi: With Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) securing the majority-mark in the tightly-contested Lok Sabha election, the grouping is set to form the government for the third time in a row with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at its helm.
As per the final score published by Election Commission of India (ECI), the BJP has bagged a total of 240 seats. Two of its key allies Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (United) have secured 16 and 12 seats, respectively.
As support of TDP and JD (U) is crucial for forming the government at the Centre, top leaders of the two parties — N Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar are likely to play the role of kingmakers.
Not surprisingly, the opposition INDIA alliance led by Congress party has been reported to be holding out an olive branch to the two regional satraps.
In total, the NDA has 292 seats. The alliance leaders are scheduled to meet Wednesday later in the national capital to discuss various aspects of forming the government.
Congress party has won a total of 99 seats in the Lok Sabha election. Its key allies Samajwadi Party (SP) secured 37 seats while Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) bagged 22 seats, according to the final ECI count.
Another key INDIA bloc member All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)-led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has won 29 seats.
INDIA alliance members Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey) and Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar (NCPSP) have total seats of 9 and 8, respectively.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has won four seats in Bihar. All these parties came together in 2023 to take on Modi’s BJP.
The total tally of the INDIA alliance is close to 234. The alliance has not lost all hopes to form the government and its leaders have hinted that they would try to convince ‘like-minded’ parties to join the grouping which is “committed to protect democracy and the Constitution”.
The alliance members are also scheduled to meet in New Delhi Wednesday and discuss the poll results and future strategy.
With BJP failing to reach majority-mark on its own, the era of coalition politics has returned after a gap of 10 years. Following the surprise election results on Tuesday, parties with even few members in the Lok Sabha have now become very important as their support can tilt the balance of power either way.
As per election results announced by ECI, NDA ally Lok Janshakti Party(Ram Vilas) has five members in Lok Sabha. Another NDA partner Shiv Sena (Shinde) has seven members.
The INDIA alliance partner Communist Party of India (Marxist) has four seats while Aam Aadmi Party has won three seats in the Lok Sabha.
Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) which is not part of either of the two groupings has four seats in the lower chamber of the Parliament.
There are almost 17 political parties from across the country which have won one seat each in the recently-held general election. A total of seven seats were won by Independent candidates.
