STRIKING A BALANCE

Indian voters grant Modi a historic third term, but without a majority and with the object lesson to rule by consensus

- RAJ CHENGAPPA

IT is not quite the way Narendra Modi wanted to go down in India’s electoral history. When he takes oath on June 9, Modi will be only the second prime minister in six decades to have served a third consecutive term. That’s an outstanding achievement by itself. But for Modi, the outcome of Election 2024 is seen as a personal setback. Having led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to back-toback majorities in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, he would have liked to equal the record set by Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister. Nehru had a hat trick of Lok Sabha majorities for the Congress party in 1952, 1957 and 1962 elections. It was not to be for Modi, who was denied a majority in Election 2024.

When the results of the Lok Sabha election were declared on June 4, the BJP’s tally had dropped 20 per cent, from 303 seats in 2019 to 240 this time. The party was 32 seats short of a simple majority of 272 seats on its own in the 543-strong Lok Sabha. It now has to rely on the 53 seats won by its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, including the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United) or the JD(U), to lay claim to continue ruling the country. The Opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) led by the Congress acquitted itself surprisingly well with a tally of 234 seats. The Congress tally of 99 seats may appear modest compared to the 206 it won in 2009 when it headed the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA). But then there was the absolute nadir the Grand Old Party plumbed thereafter when it won only 44 and 52 seats in 2014 and 2019 election, respectively. It has managed to find its way back up from that abyss, almost doubling its tally. More importantly for the INDIA bloc, Modi’s third term heralds the return of coalition politics to the country after a hiatus of a decade.