– Khan Tahir
On June 4, 2024, the results of the Lok Sabha elections came out, proving every exit poll wrong. The NDA won 292 seats, and the INDIA bloc secured 234. Given these numbers, it appears the NDA is poised to form the government. However, if Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), which won 12 seats, and Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, which won 16 seats, leave the NDA and join the INDIA coalition, it would make it impossible for the NDA to form the government.
Even if the 12 and 16 seats won by JD(U) and TDP, respectively, are added to the INDIA bloc’s 234 seats, the total comes to 262 seats. This means they would still need 10 more seats to form the government. These 10 seats could potentially come from independent candidates and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM).
Whether or not the INDIA bloc succeeds in forming the government, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the NDA has failed in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA had won 353 seats, and in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, they had secured 336 seats. Winning only 292 seats this time is, in itself, a failure.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA coalition won 292 seats, whereas in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP alone had won 303 seats. BJP supporters and ardent followers can gauge the party’s failure from this comparison.
In the 2024 elections, three seats were of significant importance:
First, the seat of Amravati in Maharashtra, where the BJP fielded Navneet Rana.
She was busy preparing to remove the police in 15 minutes and 15 seconds, but the people removed her for at least the next five years.
Second, the Hyderabad seat, where the BJP tried enthusiastically to field Madhavi Latha against Asaduddin Owaisi.
Referring to Navneet Rana’s 15-second statement, Madhavi Latha said every citizen should take out 15 seconds to vote. Perhaps the people of Hyderabad took this very seriously, as Madhavi Latha lost by more than 300,000 votes.
Even if every vote Asaduddin Owaisi received was counted as one and every vote Madhavi Latha received was counted as two, Madhavi Latha still couldn’t have defeated Asaduddin Owaisi. Madhavi Latha should understand that elections aren’t won by shooting arrows in the air.
Third, the Ayodhya (Faizabad) constituency, where Lallu Singh had been winning consecutively for two terms. Although the Ram temple has now been built, at least the people there have realized that employment won’t come from the temple. In the last 10 years, apart from the temple, perhaps there has been no development. Those who believe in Ram might also understand that even Ram doesn’t want the BJP to win anymore.
Some people are making big news about Smriti Irani losing from Amethi. Let me tell them that something which happens rarely or is unexpected becomes news. Therefore, Smriti Irani’s win from Amethi in 2019 was news. There is nothing extraordinary about her losing, so it isn’t news. Yes, if she had won again in 2024, that would have definitely been news.
