The alliance of opposition parties, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA bloc, on Tuesday delivered better-than-expected results in the 2024 General Elections. The bloc, which was formed in 2023 to pose a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), delivered major gains in the two biggest states in terms of number of Lok Sabha seats, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
It also outperformed in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, signalling that the strategy of fighting together may have worked for them. Congress had given up its seats for the alliance and was contesting the lowest number of seats since Independence at 328.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi said that Congress leaders respected INDIA bloc allies and wherever the alliance fought “we fought as one.”
As per the Election Commission’s data (at 7:30 pm), the INDIA bloc was leading on 234 seats. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was leading on 291 seats, much lower than the exit polls’ prediction of 350-400 seats. Other parties were leading on 18 seats.
Most exit polls had predicted that the INDIA bloc would win around 150 seats.
The most notable gains were made by the alliance in Uttar Pradesh, where Samajwadi Party (SP) was leading on 38 seats and Congress on 32 seats. The BJP was leading on 32 seats, much lower than the 62 seats it won in 2019.
In the state, Akhilesh Yadav’s SP was able to increase its vote share from 18.11 per cent in 2019 to 33.53 per cent. For Congress, the vote share rose from 6.36 per cent to 9.53 per cent. BJP’s vote share shrunk from 49.97 per cent to 41.37 per cent.
Uttar Pradesh sends the most number of members to Lok Sabha at 80.
In Maharashtra, which has 48 seats in Lok Sabha, Congress emerged as the single largest party leading on 13 seats. Its INDIA bloc partners Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar were leading on 9 and 7 seats, taking their total to 29. Their combined vote share was over 43 per cent.
It marked a significant moment for both the allies of Congress, which lost their original names and symbols in the run-up to the elections after some members broke off to establish their separate parties.
These parties, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were contesting in coalition with the BJP in the state. BJP was leading on 10 seats, followed by 7 of Shiv Sena and one of the NCP.
The INDIA bloc also worked in Tamil Nadu, which is the fifth-largest state. All 39 seats in the state were led by the alliance where Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was ahead on 22 seats followed by Congress on nine. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and the Communist Party of India were leading on two seats each.
The alliance also made inroads in Bihar with it leading on 9 out of 40 seats. In 2019, NDA had won 39 out of 40 seats in the state.
Following the narrow results of the NDA, speculations arose around the prospects of the INDIA bloc claiming to form the government. A party or coalition needs to win 272 seats to form the government. For INDIA, this would mean including Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu’s numbers. Notably, Kumar and Naidu were among the founding members of the bloc and left it later to join hands with the BJP.
The bloc is set to meet in New Delhi on Wednesday to decide the future course of action.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that the opposition bloc was not likely to form a government at the Centre. “I am not sure if the INDIA alliance can form the government. We will meet tomorrow and decide unanimously on the future course of action,” he said at a press conference.
Gandhi later said that the bloc would also decide whether to approach Kumar and Naidu to attempt government formation at the Centre. “We won’t say anything without asking the opinion of our allies. Our alliance will decide tomorrow and whatever they decide we will act on that,” he said.
BJP leader Jai Bhagwan Goyal, however, termed the bloc’s performance “fragmented” and said that the opposition has “no clear vision or leadership.”
“Their temporary gains are a result of opportunistic alliances, lacking the stability and cohesive policy framework needed to govern effectively. The BJP remains the only party with a proven track record of development and strong leadership under Prime Minister Modi, and we are confident in our continued mandate from the people to lead India towards progress and prosperity,” he said.
First Published: Jun 04 2024 | 8:11 PM IST
