Ready Reckoner for Intelligent Conversations on Indian Elections

Formation of Government

The President of India will invite the parliamentary leader of the party with the most seats to form the government. This marks only the second time in Indian history that a Prime Minister has been elected for a third consecutive term. If Narendra Modi completes this term, he will be the first PM to serve three consecutive terms as an elected Prime Minister. While Jawaharlal Nehru won three consecutive elections (1952, 1957, and 1962), his initial term post-independence was an appointment. Both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Indira Gandhi were elected thrice, but not consecutively.

Election Results Overview

• BJP: Lost 63 seats and saw a 1.14% drop in vote share.
• Congress: Increased from 57 to 99 seats, with a 1.73% rise in vote share.

Coalition Dynamics

To form the government, Narendra Modi will need support from the NDA coalition partners, as the BJP alone holds 240 seats, short of the 272 majority. The NDA, comprising 13 alliance partners, has a total of 293 seats. The key leaders and their parties include:

• Chandrababu Naidu (TDP, 16 seats)
• Nitish Kumar (JDU, 12 seats)
• Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena, 7 seats)
• Chirag Paswan (LJP (RV), 5 seats)
• Ajit Pawar (NCP, 1 seat)
• H. D. Kumaraswamy (JD(S), 2 seats)
• Anupriya Patel (Apna Dal (Soneylal), 1 seat)
• Pawan Kalyan (Janasena Party, 2 seats)
• Jayant Chaudhary (Rashtriya Lok Dal, 2 seats)
• Urkhao Brahma (UPPL, 1 seat)
• Assam Gana Parishad (1 seat)
• Jitan Ram Manjhi (HMM, 1 seat)
• Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (1 seat)
• Sudesh Mahto (AJSU, 1 seat)

The INDIA alliance, led by the Congress Party, holds 233 seats. Additionally, 17 seats are held by other parties and independents not aligned with either major coalition, including the largest, YSRCP with 4 seats.

Election Statistics

• Voter Turnout: 640 million votes were counted, up from 603.74 million in the previous election.
• First-Time Voters: There were at least 18.2 million first-time voters.

Notable Constituencies

• Indore: Saw more than 200,000 NOTA (None of the Above) votes, the highest in India’s history since the option was introduced in 2013, comprising 14% of total votes.
• Gopalganj, Bihar: Had the previous highest NOTA votes in 2019 with 51,660, about 5% of total votes.

Closely Contested Seats

• Attingal, Kerala: Won with a margin of 684 votes.
• Mumbai North-West, Maharashtra: Won with a margin of 48 votes. Initially, UBT Shiv Sena’s Kirtikar led by 681 votes. A recount showed Kirtikar ahead by just one vote, but after rechecking postal ballots, Eknath Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Waikar won by 48 votes. Final tally: Waikar 452,644, Kirtikar 452,596.

Key Deadlines

• A new government must be formed before June 16, when the 17th Lok Sabha term ends. PM Modi has resigned and is currently heading a caretaker government.