Lok Sabha election results 2024: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the BJP-led NDA 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 Bharatiya Janata Party, whose candidates had contested in the name of Modi, won or was ahead in 240 seats, falling short of the 272 majority mark and needing the support of allies in the party-led National Democratic Alliance(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.
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With support from BJP's key allies N Chandrababu Naidu's TDP and Nitish Kumar's JD(U), which were leading or winning 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar respectively, and other alliance partners, the NDA crossed the halfway mark and appeared to be on course to bag around 290 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The TDP also swept the assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh dislodging Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP.
The Election Commission revealed on Monday that 64.2 crore voters of the 96.8 crore registered voters cast their ballots during the Lok Sabha elections that spanned from April 19 to June 1.
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Of the 64.2 crore voters, 31.2 crore were women. Addressing a press meet, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Monday afternoon that Jammu and Kashmir recorded it highest turnout in four decades with 51.05 per cent in the Kashmir valley and 58.58 per cent overall.
Compared to 540 repolls in 2019, only 39 repolls took place in this year's elections. Kumar said more than 68,000 monitoring teams and 1.5 crore election and security personnel were deployed during the polls.
THE WEEK brings to you all highlights of Lok Sabha vote counting and election results here: