Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance is projected to win a big majority in the general election that concluded yesterday, TV exit polls said, suggesting it would do better than expected by most analysts.
Most exit polls projected the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could win a two-thirds majority in the 543-member lower house of parliament, where 272 is needed for a simple majority. A two-thirds majority will allow the government to usher in far-reaching amendments to the Constitution.
However, according to the exit polls, the NDA is likely to fall short of the 400-seat target it set for itself in this year’s national elections, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
A summary of six exit polls projected the NDA could win between 355 and 380 seats, a number that is likely to boost financial markets when they reopen on Monday. The NDA won 353 seats in the 2019 general election, of which BJP accounted for 303.
The opposition “INDIA” alliance led by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party was projected to win between 125 to 165 seats.
Meanwhile, exit polls have shown that the BJP is making fresh gains in West Bengal ruled by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress. Most polls gave BJP more seats than the TMC.
In his first comments after voting ended, Modi claimed victory without referring to the exit polls.
“I can say with confidence that the people of India have voted in record numbers to re-elect the NDA government,” he said on X, without providing evidence of his claim.
“The opportunistic INDI Alliance failed to strike a chord with the voters. They are casteist, communal and corrupt.”
Nationally, an exit poll from broadcaster CNN-News18 forecasts Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its coalition allies to win 355 seats.
Republic Bharat- P Marq exit poll gives BJP-led NDA 359 seats, India News- D-Dyanamics gave it 371 while Republic Bharat- Matrize said NDA is set to get any numbers between 353 and 368. News Nation gave BJP-led alliance between 342 to 378 seats and TV 5 Telugu exit poll projected 359 seats for NDA.
PMARQ exit poll predicts 154 seats for the opposition INDIA bloc and 30 for others. Republic TV Matrize put the seat numbers between 118 and 133, while India News D Dynamics poll gave 125 seats to the opposition. News Nation poll predicted 153-169 seats for INDIA bloc and NDTV India -Jan Ki Baat estimated 141-161 seats.
In West Bengal, TMC, which had lost a significant number of seats to BJP in 2019 and won 22 seats, may end up losing a few more in this year’s elections if the exit poll predictions prove true, reports Reuters.
According to the Matrize exit poll, TMC will secure 16-20 seats, while Jan Ki Baat has predicted 16-18 seats for the party in West Bengal. PMARQ exit poll has predicted 22 seats for BJP and 20 for TMC.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had won 18 of the total 42 seats in the state.
In Andhra Pradesh, the NDA is expected to get 18 of the state’s 25 seats, reports Reuters.
Karnataka is also expected to vote overwhelmingly for the BJP, despite its preference for the Congress at the state level. In Telangana too, the Congress may be unable to capitalise on its assembly poll victory. The BJP is likely to walk away with over half of the state’s 17 seats.
The BJP is even expected to open its account in Tamil Nadu, with at least two seats, and in Kerala with one, exit polls predict.
In neighbouring Odisha, the BJP can do even better, winning 15 of the state’s 21 seats and confining Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal — once the unquestioned choice of the people — to the margins.
The opposition dismissed the exit polls, and ahead of their publication had called them “prefixed”. Most opposition parties accuse India’s main news channels of being biased in favour of Modi, charges the channels deny. They also say exit polls in India are mostly unscientific.
“This is a government exit poll, this is Narendra Modi’s exit poll,” Supriya Shrinate, the Congress’s social media head, told news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake.
“We have a sense of how many seats we are winning, it will not be one seat less than 259,” she said.
Nearly one billion people were eligible to vote in the seven-phase election that began on April 19 and was held in scorching summer heat in many parts.
The Election Commission will count votes on June 4 and results are expected on the same day.
A victory for Modi, 73, will make him only the second prime minister after independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru to win three consecutive terms.
