After a marathon polling process to elect the 18th Lok Sabha that lasted for a month and a half, the results were declared on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
The BJP, whose candidates had contested in the name of Modi, won 240 seats, falling short of the 272 majority mark and needing the support of allies in the party-led NDA for government formation, a far cry from the 303 and 282 seats it had won in 2019 and 2014 respectively to have a majority on its own.
With support from BJP's key allies N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United, which won 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar respectively, and other alliance partners, the NDA as a whole bagged 293 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
Catch all the numbers HERE.
The exit polls were way off the mark this time with the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) -- whose rout they had predicted -- touching 233 seats on the counting day with good showing in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh.
After being routed in 2019 polls, the Congress made a comeback in states like Rajasthan and Haryana, while improving considerably in Uttar Pradesh courtesy its ally Samajwadi Party.
