Lok Sabha Election 2024 Results: BJP wins 240 seats; Congress gains 99
The Election Commission of India revealed the results for all 543 Lok Sabha seats that went to the polls between April 19 and June 1, with the Congress gaining 99 and the BJP securing 240, falling shy of the majority mark of 272.
According to the final results, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will most probably form the government at the Centre for a third consecutive term, despite the fact that his BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fell short of expectations due to a surprising strong showing by the Opposition INDIA bloc, as well as crushing losses in key states such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The 2024 results were a long cry from the 303 and 282 seats gained by the BJP-led NDA in 2019 and 2014, respectively, to form a majority on their own.
Also read: Lok Sabha Election 2024 Results: A look at the biggest losers
On Tuesday, ballots were counted for 542 Lok Sabha seats after Mukesh Dalal, the BJP’s Surat candidate, was elected unopposed.
The latest result to be announced was for Maharashtra’s Beed Lok Sabha seat, where NCP (SP) candidate Bajrang Manohar Sonwane defeated BJP contender Pankaja Munde by 6,553 votes.
According to the final results from the Election Commission, the Congress won 99 seats, up from 52 in the 2019 Assembly elections, gaining ground on the BJP in Rajasthan and Haryana.
Samajwadi Party gained considerably
Meanwhile, two crucial members of the INDIA alliance, the Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool Congress, won convincing victory in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, respectively.
While the Samajwadi Party won 37 seats, the Trinamool Congress secured 29, higher than its 2019 tally of 22.
Also read: Lok Sabha Poll results: Congress’ Raj Babbar trailing by over 60,000 votes in Gurugram
Party candidate Akhilesh Yadav won against BJP’s Subrat Pathak by a margin of 1,70,922 votes from Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency.
Exit polls’ predictions proved wrong
While most exit polls anticipated a comfortable victory for PM Modi’s NDA with over 350 seats, at least three major exit polls – India Today-My Axis India, India TV-CNX, and News24-Todays Chanakya – predicted 400 or more seats for the ruling alliance in the general election. All the predictions turned out to be immensely wrong.
These are the seats tally partywise attained by them in all states and Union Territories in the 2024 elections – DMK 22; TDP 16; JD(U) 12; Shiv Sena (UBT) 9; NCP (SP) 8; Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) 7; Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) 5; YSRCP 4; RJD 4; CPI(M) 4; IUML 3; AAP 3; JMM 3; Jana Sena Party 2; CPI (ML) (Liberation) 2; JD(S) 2; VCK 2; CPI 2; RLD 2; National Conference 2; United People’s Party Liberal 1; Asom Gana Parishad 1; Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) 1; Kerala Congress 1; Revolutionary Socialist Party 1; NCP 1; Voice of the People Party 1; Zoram People’s Movement 1; Shiromani Akali Dal 1; Rashtriya Loktantrik Party 1; Bharat Adivasi Party 1; Sikkim Krantikari Morcha 1; MDMK 1; Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) 1; Apna Dal (Soneylal) 1; AJSU Party 1; AIMIM 1; and Independent 7.