The Prime Minister’s Alliance Narendra ModHe won India’s legislative elections on Tuesday, but the opposition said voters sent a clear message as his Hindu nationalist party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in a decade.
In the absence of results from a few districts, the coalition led by Modi obtained at least 272 seats, what is necessary to guarantee a majority in the Lower House, of 543 seats, according to the results of the Electoral Commission.
Previously, before a crowd of supporters in the capital, New Delhi, Modi stressed that the people gave the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and its allies a mandate “for the third consecutive time.”
“I am indebted to all citizens for their support and love,” he said.
“Our third term will be one of the biggest decisions and the country will write a new chapter of development. That is Modi’s guarantee,” he added, without showing any sign of disappointment. And he promised: “We will move forward with renewed energy, renewed enthusiasm and renewed determination.”
According to the latest data from the Electoral Commission, the BJP won 224 seats and was on track to win 16 more, reaching a total of 240, making it the largest party in the chamber, although the results are much worse than those of the last elections, in 2019, when it obtained 303 deputies. In any case, with its allies, Modi’s party would exceed the 272 seats that give it the parliamentary majority.
For its part, the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress (which anointed Nehru, the post-independence prime minister, and Indira Gandhi), It won 88 seats and was on track to win 11 more, for a total of 99, compared to 52 in the outgoing Parliament.
Modi was re-elected in his constituency, the sacred city of Hinduism Varanasi, also known as Benares. It is the third time that he has won and this time he obtained 152,000 more votes than the second candidate.
After a decade promoting his Hindu nationalist agenda, Modi, 73, is heading toward a third term in office. emerging power member of the BRICS along with Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. And this, despite accusations from the opposition and concerns about the rights of religious minorities.
Even before the counting was over, the BJP headquarters already began celebrating the results.
Apoorva Shukla, a 23-year-old BJP supporter, said she was excited about Modi’s new mandate.
“The type of development we have had in the last ten years, I think, this time, it will go to a higher level,” he said.
But in the premises of the Indian National Congress there was also a festive atmosphere. “The BJP did not manage to win a majority by itself,” the deputy of that opposition party highlighted to the press. “For them, this is a moral defeat.”
A total of 642 million people participated in these elections divided into seven phases over six weeksfaced with the logistical challenge of organizing elections in the most populous nation in the world, with 1.4 billion inhabitants.
It is estimated that more than two-thirds of the Indian population belong to the lowest castes of the ancient system of social stratification into which Hindus are divided.
Politicians of all stripes courted the lower castes with social action programs, promises of employment and special subsidies to fight discrimination.
But Modi’s BJP distinguished itself from the rest, imposing itself with a different discourse: think first about your religion and then about your caste.
