India’s General Election: Ruling Coalition Fails to Secure Majority, Modi Likely to Remain Prime Minister
The results of India’s 18th Lok Sabha elections are out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), leading the ruling coalition, has retained a majority but fell short of expectations. Out of a total of 543 seats, the BJP won 240 seats, 63 less than the previous term; while the opposition Congress party secured 99 seats, an increase of 47 seats. The ruling coalition’s total seats are far below Modi’s pre-election call of 400 seats, and the BJP itself did not reach a majority, which will necessitate seeking cooperation with other smaller parties in the future.
The Election Commission of India did not specifically tally the total number of seats for the ruling and opposition coalitions due to the involvement of numerous parties and their variable political orientations, resulting in differing statistical data from various media outlets. However, according to data from News18 TV, the BJP-led ruling coalition won a total of 292 seats, the Congress-led opposition coalition obtained 234 seats, and other independent third parties secured 17 seats.
Modi won in his constituency, the holy city of Varanasi, with 612,970 votes, leading his opponent by 150,000 votes. India adopts a parliamentary system, where cabinet members must be members of either the Upper or Lower House, with the prime minister typically coming from the Lower House. It is generally expected that Modi will continue to serve as prime minister.
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