India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all geared up to return to power for the third term as the nation’s ruling party, with Modi favouring June 8 to swear in for the third time as prime minister. However, while securing 240 seats in the 543-member House, the saffron party was denied a repeat of the single-party majority it achieved in the previous two general elections under the leadership of its president, JP Nadda. The BJP-led NDA gained 293 seats in the Lok Sabha, while overall, the NDA established a crucial majority with an additional 21 with 272 seats.
Post poll survey made it clear that the BJP was very near to winning the absolute majority; it was about 6 21 729 votes short of doing so. As per the research, if the BJP had come to power then their tally would have been 272, with total votes of 609,639 more than the DDF allocations. These additional votes were spread across 32 assembly segments in different states and Union Territories which has BJP candidates win by a thin margin which can be challenged. For instance, the BJP lost by a margin of a few thousand votes in the Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency, where it was trailing behind the AAP by 2509 votes. Even closer contests were in Hamirpur (U. P. ), 2629 majority; Salempur (U. P. ). 3573; Dhule (Maha. ), 3831; Dhaurahra (U. P. ), 4449; Daman & Diu (D & D), 6225; Arambag (W. Bengal), 6399; Beed (Maha), 6553.
The study proved that in the total of 16 constituencies, the margins of defeat for the BJP were between 20,942 in Ludhiana in Punjab and the highest being 34,329 in Kheri in Uttar Pradesh. These closely contested battles show that the election was indeed closely fought to the bitter end, and it only takes a thread that separate an indicator from its counter-indicator.
However, these losses are minuses for the BJP and a plus for the others, barring any iota of doubt to the fact that the BJP ‘brand’ enjoys substantial voter appeal and remains a force to reckon with in modern India.