(Image source from: Business-standard.com)

The Election Commission of India has announced the results for 542 out of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious in 240 seats, while the Indian National Congress (Congress) secured 99 seats. The outcome for the Beed constituency in Maharashtra, where the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Bajrang Manohar Sonwane is leading the BJP's Pankaja Munde, is still pending. Although the Lok Sabha has 543 members, the counting was held for 542 seats after the BJP's Surat candidate Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed. According to the results declared early on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to form the government for a third consecutive term, as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has secured a majority in the Lok Sabha. This comes despite the BJP's crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states, in what was a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on the Prime Minister's popularity. The BJP, whose candidates campaigned under Modi's name, won 240 seats, falling short of the 272-seat majority mark and requiring the support of its allies in the NDA for government formation. This is a significant decline from the 303 and 282 seats the party had won in 2019 and 2014, respectively, when it had a majority on its own.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by Naidu and Nitish Kumar's JD(U) secured significant wins in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, contributing to the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) overall success in crossing the halfway mark. Conversely, the Congress party, a member of the opposition INDIA bloc, managed to increase its tally from the previous election, making inroads in Rajasthan and Haryana. Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party's strong performance in Uttar Pradesh bolstered the INDIA bloc's morale, and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), another key opposition alliance member, saw an increase in its seat count in West Bengal compared to 2019. The BJP, despite its previous Lok Sabha election victories, experienced a less substantial win than anticipated, as the results did not align with the projected landslide victory suggested by the exit polls. This election, encompassing the world's largest democratic exercise, witnessed the counting of over 640 million votes, which were cast during the seven-phase polling period from April 19 to June 1.