New Delhi, May 23: Riding on a massive Modi wave sweeping through most parts of India, the BJP was set to return to power on Thursday as it led on 292 seats while the Congress trailed far behind with 51, according to trends released by the Election Commission for all 542 seats that went to polls.
If the trends stay until final results, the BJP would have improved on its 2014 performance when it had won 282 seats on its own in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Adding the seats won by its allies, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance could win 343 seats, up from 336 in 2014.Markets cheered the trends, as the benchmark BSE Sensex touched 40,000 for the first time and NSE Nifty breached the 12,000 level. The rupee appreciated 14 paise to 69.51 against the US dollar trade.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi–Many Congratulations for securing such a big victory for the BJP. I am thankful to the people,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted.
The results are a resounding endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity, his government’s achievements in the last five years and his campaign, which centred around national security and nationalism. He also relentlessly attacked the Congress Party for what he called its dynastic legacy, and blamed it for the country’s woes. The opposition had criticised the BJP campaign as divisive and polarising.
According to the latest vote count, the BJP’s vote share was nearly 58 per cent, compared to 33 per cent for the Congress. But the figure is likely to change when the final results are in. Still, the trend shows that the Modi wave has swept across geographies, caste lines, age, gender and economic status.
In the politically critical state of Uttar Pradesh, where the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party combine had posed a stiff challenge, the BJP was leading on 56 of the 80 seats at stake. The SP was ahead on eight and the BSP on 12. Although the BJP had won 72 seats in the last elections, the performance is much better than what many exit polls had forecast.
The Congress was ahead only on one seat in Uttar Pradesh. Even Congress president Rahul Gandhi was trailing the BJP’s Smriti Irani in Amethi by nearly 7,000 votes but was clearly ahead in Wayanad in Kerala.
The Modi wave not only swept through the Hindi heartland and Gujarat, as was expected, but also rippled through West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Only Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh appeared untouched. Even in Telangana, where it was expected to fare poorly, the BJP was ahead on four seats, the same as the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.
“The people on the ground are not buying the narrative of the opposition that people are under threat. People are doing well that they are looking forward to the next government of Narendra Modi. We have to realise that Modi’s government inherited very weak economy and he has done a phenomenal job,” BJP spokesman Amit Malviya said.
In Odisha, the BJP was ahead on nine of the 21 seats and Biju Janata Dal was ahead on 11. In 2014, the BJD had won 20 seats and the BJP took one. The BJP ally, Janata Dal (United), was ahead on 16 seats.
As votes for the seven-phase parliamentary polls were counted on Thursday, the Trinamool Congress Party was leading on 25 of the 42 seats of West Bengal while the BJP was ahead on 15, up from two it held in 2014. The Left was wiped out in the state, once its citadel.
The DMK was ahead in 20 seats in Tamil Nadu.
As the trends came in, pointing to another tenure for Modi as prime minister, celebrations broke out in the BJP’s party offices across the country with people dancing to the sounds of drums.
The trends of the ruling party’s leads were in sync with the exit polls, most of which predicted that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would be on course to retain power for a second term. PTI
