India Gives Modi A High Five

Modi cruises to second term with gains in West Bengal and Odisha, and holding his own in the north. BJP ensures that Congress will not be able to lay claim to the post of Leader of the Opposition. Party sheds its north-centric tag with a near sweep in Karnataka, winning 8 more seats than in 2014. Opposition’s efforts to corner government on demonetisation, GST and Rafale make no impact.

- Amit Baruah & Varghese K. George

Making major gains in West Bengal and Odisha while holding his own in northern India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cruised to a second term in office, with the BJP alone looking set to win just over 300 seats in the seven-phase Lok Sabha election.

Decimating the Opposition alliances in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the BJP ensured that the Congress, which hovered around a tally of 50, would not be able to claim the official position of Leader of the Opposition for the second time running. The defeat could trigger a major churn in the Opposition ranks, particularly in the Congress.

The Congress-led UDF notched up impressive numbers at the expense of the Left in Kerala, winning 19 of the 20 seats, while the DMKled coalition demolished the AIADMK-BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu, winning in 38 out of 39, including the lone seat in Puducherry.