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Nearly four hours after the counting of votes began, the ruling BJP – which had won 303 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections – appeared to be struggling to reach the 240 mark. If the numbers hold, the BJP will have to ride on the coattails of its allies – particularly the TDP and JD(U) – to form the government.
With the INDIA bloc nominating the Congress’s Kodikunnil Suresh, the MP from Kerala’s Mavelikkara, the stage is set for a rare contest for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post. The ruling NDA earlier renominated BJP MP Om Birla for Speaker.
Having castigated the new BJP-led NDA government for ignoring the claim of the eight-term Lok Sabha MP from the Congress, Kodikunnil Suresh, for the Pro tem Speaker’s position in the newly-elected House while appointing BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab to it, the Opposition INDIA bloc is now likely to reject the role given to Suresh and two other Opposition MPs to assist Mahtab in administering oath to the new members.
Upbeat after the election results, a resurgent Opposition is coordinating its moves to mount pressure on the BJP-led NDA government to keep in abeyance the three laws that have been enacted to replace the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Evidence Act. The parties are also gearing up to corner the government on the NEET and UGC-NET controversies next week as the 18th Lok Sabha meets for the first time.
The INDIA bloc may have decided to wait and watch developments unfolding in the NDA camp and “take appropriate steps at the appropriate time”, but some parties in the Opposition alliance, particularly the TMC and Shiv Sena (UBT), and, to some extent the AAP, are pushing hard for exploring options to shore up the bloc numbers to checkmate the BJP.
In a major setback to the Congress and its unit in West Bengal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the party’s outgoing floor leader of the Lok Sabha, lost from Baharampur to the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC’s) debut face and cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan.
Belying all exit poll predictions, the BJP appeared to be struggling to reach even the 240 mark on its own in leads available till noon Tuesday for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, suffering unexpected reverses in Uttar Pradesh and losses in Rajasthan, Bihar and Karnataka — states where the party dominated in 2019. The party is suffering reverses in West Bengal, as well.
Not only will the results of the mammoth, seven-phase 2024 Lok Sabha polls determine the direction the Indian republic will take in the next five years (or more), they could also potentially decide the contours of electoral politics in the world’s largest democracy, and the future of many political parties in the fray.