India chooses Modi again

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday led his Bharatiya Janata Party to a super-sized victory for a second term in office, as his message of nationalism, security, Hindu pride and a New India was wholeheartedly embraced by voters across large swathes of the country.

With the elections establishing the 68-year-old Modi as themost popular leader in decades, the partial vote count released by the ElectionCommission showed that BJP will not only surpass its 2014 performance but alsocross 300-seats mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

   

Such was the force of the BJP wave that even CongressPresident Rahul Gandhi lost in his bastion of Amethi to Smriti Irani, but inconsolation prize won the Wayanad seat in Kerala.

Until 9 pm, the BJP had won 115 seats and was leading in 188of the 542 Lok Sabha seats that went to polls in seven phases in April and May.This has put it on course to likely winning 303 seats, far better than the 282it won in 2014. With the support of allies in the National Democratic Alliance,the coalition could have some 344 seats.

The victory margin left the combined opposition in the dust,with the Congress Party stuck at 27 confirmed victories and a lead in 24 seats,according to the partial results.

Modi easily won his seat in Varanasi with a margin of over4.5 lakh votes while party president Amit Shah took Gandhinagar in their homestate of Gujarat by over 5.5 lakh votes.

Modi and Shah arrived at the party headquarters in New Delhito a rapturous welcome by supporters. Modi waved victory signs with both armsin the air as rose petals were showered on the duo, the two most powerful menin the country. He then proceeded to garland the statues of BJP idealogue DeenDayal Upadhyaya and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. Minutes later, a gigantic garlandin BJP colours of saffron and green was held around Modi by other dignitaries.

In the end, Modi’s proclamation of “Ab ki baar 300paar” just a few days ago looks set to come true as Gandhi’s campaignslogan of “chowkidar chor hai” and promises of annual incomeguarantee were soundly rejected by voters. In almost all the states where BJPwon, its vote share was more than 50 percent.

The results have raised questions about Gandhi’s leadershipand his party’s future. At a press conference, Gandhi refused to address thatissue, saying the party will hold a meeting on Friday to discuss the future.

The results are a ringing endorsement of Modi’s popularity,his government’s achievements in the last five years and his campaign, whichcentred around national security following the Balakot air strikes, nationalismand Hindutva. He also relentlessly attacked the Congress Party for what hecalled its dynastic legacy, and blamed it for the country’s woes, includingendemic corruption.

The opposition had criticised the BJP campaign as divisiveand polarising.

Still, the results show that the Modi wave and the party’sbrilliant election management swept across geographies, caste lines, age,gender and economic status.  

In the politically critical state of Uttar Pradesh, wherethe Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party combine had posed a stiff challenge,the BJP is expected to win 62 of the 80 seats at stake. Although the BJP hadwon 71 seats in the last elections, the performance is far better than the 30-40seats many exit polls had forecast.

The BJP state headquarters in Lucknow was drenched insaffron hue with jubilant party workers wearing saffron stoles, adorning’genda’ flowers around their necks and holding lotus cut outs. They also burstcrackers and danced to drum beats as women supporters wore saffron attire andpainted their nails in the same hue.

In a stark contrast, Congress, BSP and SP offices wore aforlorn look. Under the scorching sun, even shop owners selling campaignmaterial outside the SP office sat in stunned silence as those gathered aroundthe tea kiosks talked in hushed tones

The Modi wave not only swept through the Hindi heartland andGujarat, as was expected, but also bulldozed through West Bengal, Odisha,Maharashtra and Karnataka. Only Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh appeareduntouched. Even in Telangana, where it was expected to fare poorly, the BJP isexpected to win four seats, while the Telangana Rashtra Samiti will get nine.

However, Andhra Pradesh threw up a shock in the Assemblypolls, which were held simultaneously, voting out of power the Telugu DesamParty of Chandrababu Naidu, and electing Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress.

After Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Modi is the thirdprime minister of the country _ and the first non-Congress one — who has beenable to retain power for a second term with full majority in Lok Sabha.

The results were staggering for BJP in the Hindi-speakingstates, including those where Congress had won in the recent Assembly elections:it swept all but one of the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 24 out of 25 inRajasthan and nine out of 11 in Chattisgarh. Similar was the story in Bihar,Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Delhi and notablyKarnataka, where it is expected to win 25 out of 28 seats.

Among the big-name casualties were Congress leadersMallikarjun Kharge who lost his Kalburgi seat in Karnataka and JyotiradityaScindia in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress won not a single seat in 13 states.

The BJP also made huge gains in Odisha, West Bengal andTelangana.

In Odisha, the BJP was ahead in eight of the 21 seats, upfrom one last time. In West Bengal, it was expected to win 18 seats, up fromtwo in 2014, all at the expense of the Left. In Telangana, it was set to win four.

Congress ally DMK was ahead in 20 seats in Tamil Nadu whilein Kerala, the Congress-led UDF was ahead in 19 out of 20 seats.

The voting was staggered between April 11 and May 19 inwhich around 67 per cent of the nearly 900 million eligible people exercisedtheir franchise to elect 542 members of the Lok Sabha from a total of 8,049contestants.         

Out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, elections were held in 542constituencies as the EC had cancelled polls to the Vellore constituency on theground of excessive use of money power.         

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