As the Lok Sabha elections results show a BJP sweep across the country, as many as nine former chief ministers belonging to Congress, face imminent electoral defeat in the elections.
As the Lok Sabha elections results show a BJP sweep across the country, as many as nine former chief ministers belonging to Congress, face imminent electoral defeat in the elections.
The list includes political heavyweights like Sheila Dikshit, who was three-time former chief minister of Delhi. Dikshit is trailing on North East Delhi parliamentary constituency against the sitting BJP MP Manoj Tiwari. Besides this former Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda is trailing from Sonipat against BJP's Ramesh Chander Kaushik.
Moreover, former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat is trailing from Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar against BJP's Ajay Bhat and Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh is trailing from BJP's Pragya Singh Thakur from Bhopal. Former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is facing an imminent defeat against BJP's Jai Sidheshwar Shivacharya Mahaswamiji in Solapur.
In Meghalaya, the former chief minister Mukul Sangma is trailing against Agatha Sangma of National People's Party in Tura parliamentary constituency. Former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Nabam Tuki is trailing against Union minister Kiren Rijiju in Arunachal West Parliamentary constituency.
Former Karnataka chief minister Veerappa Moily has lost to BJP's B.N. Bache Gowda in Chikkballapur parliamentary constituency.
The counting of votes in 542 Lok Sabha constituencies began at 8 am today amidst tight security, capping a two-month long election process which witnessed high-octane campaigning and charges of EVM tampering and violations of the Model Code of Conduct.
The BJP, which had won 282 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections also helped the NDA coalition to notch 343 seats overall. This will be the first time when a non-Congress party has managed to secure a majority on its own for the second consecutive term after Indira Gandhi had won in 1971. Earlier her father Jawaharlal Nehru had performed that feat.
In the 2013 assembly elections, BJP won 165 seats while Congress for 58. During the subsequent Lok Sabha elections, BJP grabbed 26 seats while congress managed on 3. In Rajasthan, BJP has won 163 seats with Congress getting 21. BJP managed to win all 25 seats as the Congress got non. Coming off to Chhattisgarh, BJP won 49 seats in the previous assembly elections with Congress securing 39. But it had to win 10 Parliamentary seats from the state which they missed out one to the Congress.
1. Pragya Singh Thakur assures Bhopal progress
)
BJP leader and Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur praised the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hoped the next five years will see another phase of development and progress.
"Bhopal and the country will benefit a lot and progress forward. The work that PM Modi has done in the past five years has enabled the people to trust us in a big way," Sadhvi Pragya Thakur said.
"The people of Bhopal have expressed confidence and given us a credible lead. It was 'Sabka saath, sabka vikas', and now it is 'sabka vishwas'," she added.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is leading by 3,49,036 votes against the second-placed Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh till the last reports came in.
BJP's ride back to power was also enabled by its spectacular show in West Bengal where it was leading in 18 of the 42 seats in the state. The ruling Trinamool Congress has suffered a severe setback as it could lead only in 23 seats against 34 it had in the outgoing Lok Sabha. In Odisha, the BJP made inroads into BJD's strongholds and was leading in 9 seats. It had won 1 seat in the last elections. The ruling BJD was ahead in 12 seats.
The BJP also was set to sweep in Bihar where the party and its ally JD(U) were ahead in 16 seats each and the other ally LJP was leading in six seats. The BJP has already bagged one seat in the state, which has 40 seats.
Karnataka also was going the BJP way where it was leading in 23 of the 28 seats, pushing the ruling Congress-JDS behind. The Congress-JDS alliance managed to win two seats in the state. former Prime Minister Deva Gowda lost in Hassan and chief minister Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil was defeated in Mandya. He lost to actress Sumalatha, who was backed by the BJP.
Apart from fresh gains, the BJP put up a sterling show in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where it had lost the Assembly polls five months ago.
2. Modi and Amit Shah made BJP's uphill climb possible
)
Riding on muscular nationalism and a strident anti-Congress plank spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP on Thursday got an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha, crossing on its own the 300 mark while storming back to power for the second consecutive term. The BJP-led NDA was close to touching the 350 mark like in the previous elections in 2014. The half-way mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha is 272.
Putting up a spectacular show in the new eastern regions, like West Bengal and Odisha, the BJP improved on its 2014 performance by winning 42 seats and was leading in 260 seats till late evening while the Congress has bagged two seats and was ahead in only 48 others.
The BJP, which had won 282 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections also helped the NDA coalition to notch 343 seats overall. This will be the first time when a non-Congress party has managed to secure a majority on its own for the second consecutive term after Indira Gandhi had won in 1971. Earlier her father Jawaharlal Nehru had performed that feat.
The saffron surge covered the Hindi heartland, entered in a big way in the east, in West Bengal and Odisha and also the west where it swept Maharashtra. Karnataka, the only state in the south where it had formed a government in the past, fell to BJP's sweep. Only Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh were untouched by the BJP storm.
Modi who exploited his government's campaign against terrorism by the aerial strikes in Pakistan that overshadowed a number of anti-incumbency issues like economic downturn and agrarian unrest to repeat his 2014 show in crucial states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and made fresh gains in Karnataka.
Like five years ago, the BJP also swept Gujarat (25), Delhi (7), Haryana (10), Himachal Pradesh (4) and Uttarakhand (5). The ruling party has added 22 seats to its tally of 282 in the 2014 election of the 543 seats in Lok Sabha. BJP allies Shiv Sena were ahead in 19, JD-U (16) and Lok Janshakti Party (1 win and 5 leads) were also doing well in Maharashtra and Bihar. Its ally SAD was leading in two seats in Punjab.
The Congress was leading in eight of the nine seats it contested in the state. The party was also doing well in Kerala where it was leading in 15 out of total 20 parliamentary seats. The Congress rout was so huge that nine of its former chief ministers lost in the hustings. They were Shiela Dikshit (Delhi), Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Haryana), Digvijaya Singh (Madhya Pradesh) Ashok Chavan and Sushil Kumar Shinde (Maharashtra), Mukul Sangma (Meghalaya), Nabam Tuki (Arunachal Pradesh) and Veerappa Moily (Karnataka).
Prime Minister Modi was leading comfortably in Varanasi where he is seeking a second term while UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi led in Raebareli. Home Minister Rajnath Singh was leading in Lucknow and BJP President Amit Shah won by a big margin in Gandhinagar.
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav was leading in Azamgarh while his father Mulayam Singh Yadav was leading in Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh. Senior SP leader Azam Khan was leading in Rampur.
3. Shiv Sena backs Modi for more success
)
Heaping praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP-led NDA was heading for a resounding victory in Lok Sabha polls, the Shiv Sena Thursday said nobody would be able to pose a challenge before him for the next 25 years.
Sena MP Sanjay Raut also claimed the NDA's victory this time would be bigger than in 2014.
People gave a befitting reply to the opposition parties which created "an atmosphere of illusion" against Modi over issues such as the Rafale fighter jet deal, he said. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party often criticized the BJP in the last five years but eventually sealed a fresh seat- sharing pact with it ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
"The entire country is 'Modi-may' (in thrall of Modi)," Raut, who edits the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', told reporters here. "The truth has to be accepted that no one could counter Modi. Today's mandate is such that no one can counter (Modi) for the next 25 years," Raut said.
The Rajya Sabha member said the BJP-led NDA was also doing well in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where the Congress won the Assembly polls last year.
"The country has reposed faith in Narendra Modi's leadership for the next five years. He will take the country even further ahead in five years," he said.
Raut said the opposition parties are needed in a democracy, but they should introspect as to why people rejected them.
"Why they lost in their bastions? Why former chief ministers (Congress candidates Ashok Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde) too were routed? Why people are so angry with the opposition?" he said. In Maharashtra, which sends 48 members to the Lok Sabha, the BJP emerged victorious in one seat and was leading in 22 other seats while the Sena was ahead in 18 seats.
The Congress and its ally NCP were leading in one and four seats, respectively.
