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Narendra Modi is set to meet his allies today to discuss forming the next government, a day after his Hindu nationalist party lost its outright majority in parliament in a surprisingly close election.
Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 240 seats on its own in the general election, 32 short of the halfway mark in the 543-member decision-making lower house, according to official results announced late yesterday.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP won 293 seats, more than 20 ahead of the 272 needed to form a government.
The opposition INDIA alliance, led by Rahul Gandhi’s centrist Congress party, won 230 seats, far more than was forecast. Congress alone won 99, almost double the 52 it won in 2019. The surprise jump has not just boosted Mr Gandhi’s standing, but the alliance is also discussing its own next steps and they have so far not conceded defeat.
The role of kingmaker for the next government now falls to two of the BJP’s key allies – Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu. Their parties, Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party, who have 12 and 16 seats respectively.
Son of Indira Gandhi’s assassin wins
Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, son of one of the assassins of former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, has been elected as an MP.
He won election from the Faridkot parliamentary seat, after securing 298,062 votes. An independent candidate, he won by a margin of 70,053 votes ahead of his nearest rival from the Aam Aadmi Party, Karamjit Singh Anmol.
Singh Khalsa’s father Beant Singh and another bodyguard, Satwant Singh, killed Ms Gandhi on 31 October 1984 at her residence.
This was the fourth time Singh Kalsa fought for election. He made unsuccessful attempts in the 2004 and 2014 general elections, as well as the 2007 Punjab polls.
His mother, Bimal Kaul, was also an MP from Ropar in 1989.
During the campaign, he raised issues of drug problems, water shortages and farmers’ protests.
Key ally reiterates support for Modi
Chandrababu Naidu, a key alliance partner of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, has reiterated support for the Hindu nationalist party.
“You always want news. I am experienced and I have seen several political changes in this country. We are in NDA, I’m going to the NDA meeting. In course of time, we will report it,” he said referring to National Democratic Alliance.
His Telugu Desam Party won 16 seats in the general election and is a key ally of BJP, which under Mr Modi, fell way short of 272 majority mark, winning 240 seats.
Markets down again in early trade on Wednesday
India’s two main indexes, the NSE Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex, are trading down again today by about 0.1 per cent each, after dropping about six per cent each yesterday.
The weaker-than-expected mandate for Narendra Modi triggered record foreign outflows and spooked investor sentiment on worries over the pace of pro-business reforms.
Volatility rose to the highest since March 2022, before easing a bit this morning.
The weakened majority for Mr Modi’s alliance could pose challenges for the more ambitious elements of the government’s reform agenda, ratings agency Fitch said.
However, it added: “Despite the slimmer majority, we do expect broad policy continuity to persist, with the government retaining its focus on its capex push, ease of doing business measures, and gradual fiscal consolidation.”
Indian election reveal voters prioritise ‘social justice, secularism and federalism’
The election results reveal that Indian voters still prioritise values of social justice, secularism and federalism that are enshrined in the Constitution, says Dr Shubranshu Mishra, lecture in Politics and International relations at the University of Exeter.
“The much-publicised inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, a significant constituency that the ruling BJP has ended up losing in the Hindi heartland Uttar Pradesh, did not turn out to be the key issue for the voters as the ruling party had anticipated,” he says in a statement to The Independent as he refers to the much-publicised consecration ceremony in January that critics saw as the launch of Mr Modi’s electoral campaign.
The hate speeches made by the BJP, including the prime minister, did not resonate well with the electorate, he says in an apparent reference to Mr Modi’s targeting Muslims in a series of election speeches, referring to the 200 million people as “infiltrators”.
Highlighting the importance of gains made by the Congress-led opposition alliance, he says: “Though PM Modi will return to power for a third consecutive term, his majority will decrease, as the Congress party-led INDIA alliance has made an impressive comeback, defying all exit poll predictions.
“The significant takeaway is this strong resurgence of Rahul Gandhi that occurred in this election, despite the fact that it was not conducted on a level-playing field.
“The complete control over key pillars of democracy, including the Election Commission and the judiciary, limited space for dissent, challenges to federalism, and biased lapdog media, was strikingly evident.
“This mandate will play a crucial role in holding the government accountable, and their key contentious and divisive initiatives, such as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), are likely to take a back seat.”
Who is Mahua Moitra? Expelled Indian parliamentarian set to make a comeback
Mahua Moitra, a firebrand politician from Trinamool Congress and a fierce critic of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, is set to make a comeback to parliament, months after she was unceremoniously expelled over accusations of taking bribes in exchange for asking questions in the lower house.
She secured a resounding victory from Krishnagar seat in West Bengal over her nearest rival Amrita Roy of the Bharatiya Janata Party, winning by a margin of 50,000 votes.
She worked as an investment banker in New York and London, before entering grassroots political activism in 2009. She eventually found a home in Trinamool Congress. =
Known for her unapologetic candour, her impassioned speeches in parliament have earned her acclaim from across the political spectrum.
In December last year, India’s parliament expelled her after MP Nishikant Dubey of Mr Modi’s BJP accused her of accepting bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to pose questions in parliament.
The parliament’s Ethics Committee initiated a probe after Mr Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, alleging bribery and impropriety against Ms Moitra.
Ms Moitra, who has denied the allegations, said she was expelled “without proof”.
Controversial Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut wins parliamentary election
Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has been elected an MP in India, joining a small crowd of people from the film industry in the country’s new parliament.
Ranaut stood as the candidate for prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in Mandi, a seat in her northern home state of Himachal Pradesh, and won by a margin of just under 75,000 votes.
The breakout star of 2013’s well-received Bollywood hit Queen, Ranaut became the most prominent of Indian celebrities to openly, and closely, align herself with Modi’s ruling party after it first came to power in 2014, and has championed its Hindu nationalist cause.
My colleague Shahana Yasmin reports:
How did Indian media cover election results?
Indian newspapers said Narendra Modi’s aura of invincibility had been dimmed, as his Bharatiya Janata Party fell short way short of majority mark. His NDA alliance has enough seats to form a coalition government, but it was still a remarkable result for the opposition INDIA bloc.
The Indian Express’s splash had a headline reading “India gives NDA a third term, Modi a message”.
The Hindustan Times read: “NDA leading, INDIA shining”.
“India Cuts Modi Down,” read the Telegraph.
The Hindu played it straight, saying: “BJP falls short, needs allies to govern”.
Who are Modi's key coalition allies?
Narendra Modi’s coalition allies have found themselves in an unexpected position after yesterday’s results – that of kingmaker.
The two most important, Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu, will be in Delhi for a meeting today with the BJP, after Modi’s party fell way short of an outright majority in its own right.
Mr Modi, for the first time, is dependent on these allies to take the total tally of seats won by their National Democratic Alliance to 292.
It’s a position the BJP would have wanted to avoid – Modi’s party has a rocky political relationship with both.
Janata Dal (United)’s Nitish Kumar, 73, is the chief minister of India’s poorest state of Bihar. He has been credited with steadying the state and pursuing economic development after accusations of widespread corruption and crime in previous administrations.
However, Kumar has switched his political alliances several times. He returned to Modi’s coalition earlier this year after previously having helped to form an opposition alliance of more than two dozen parties for the general election.
TDP boss Chandrababu Naidu, 74, was the chief minister of the undivided state of Andhra Pradesh from 1995 to 2004. He played a key role in developing the state capital Hyderabad as a technology hub, while attracting foreign investors including Microsoft.
Modi says India will see ‘a new chapter of big decisions’
Prime minister Narendra Modi says India will see a “new chapter of big decisions” in his third term in office, despite falling short of an outright BJP majority.
After claiming victory for his coalition alliance, which got him past the 272-seat midway point after a lacklustre performance from his own party, Mr Modi told a crowd at party headquarters he would not shirk from pushing forward with his agenda.
He said he would advance India’s defence production, jobs for youth, raise exports and help farmers, among other things.
“This country will see a new chapter of big decisions. This is Modi’s guarantee,” he said, speaking in the third person.
Best memes as Indians react to unexpectedly close election: ‘Public is smart’
My colleague Shweta Sharma has rounded off some of the best ones in this report:
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL2FzaWEvaW5kaWEvaW5kaWEtZWxlY3Rpb24tcmVzdWx0cy0yMDI0LW1vZGktY29uZ3Jlc3MtYmpwLWNvdW50aW5nLWIyNTU2MzA1Lmh0bWzSAQA?oc=5
2024-06-05 03:01:43Z
CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL2FzaWEvaW5kaWEvaW5kaWEtZWxlY3Rpb24tcmVzdWx0cy0yMDI0LW1vZGktY29uZ3Jlc3MtYmpwLWNvdW50aW5nLWIyNTU2MzA1Lmh0bWzSAQA
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