———- Rahul Gandhi says Intelligence Agencies, State machinery used by BJP for rigging polls
———- Stresses Indian voters have ‘punished’ BJP
———- Modi still confident of forming govt with allies
———- BJP’s numbers likely pulled down by poor showing in UP
———- BJP concedes defeat in Ayodhya where Ram Temple was inaugurated
———- Prospect of Modi having to rely on allies spooked markets
DM Monitoring
NEW DELHI: As the counting of votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections moves towards culmination, India’s main opposition leader and Congress member Rahul Gandhi has said that the Indians unanimously decided that they don’t want the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Narendra Modi, who is the current prime minister of the country.
The poll result disappointed the BJP, which seems to fall below the majority mark of 272 even though the ruling alliance is all set to form the government, as per Times of India.
Meanwhile, the Congress, which faced successive defeats in the past two Lok Sabha elections, appears poised to surpass the 100-seat mark. This resurgence signals a potential revival for the party after a period of electoral setbacks.
Referring to Modi’s failure to achieve a landslide victory, Gandhi — who won both Uttar Pradesh and Kerala seats in a stunning comeback — said on Tuesday that the people had collectively punished the right-wing nationalist politician.
It may be noted that both the arch-rivals have been re-elected as members of Parliament, as confirmed by India’s election commission.
election results outside the party office in Mumbai, India, here on Tuesday. –Agencies
“I was confident that the people of this country would give the right response,” the 53-year-old scion of the Gandhi family was addressing a press briefing after election commission figures showed the government projected to return with a reduced majority.
He said that they had fought this election against the entire state machinery. It was not just a fight against a political force but a fight to protect the country’s Constitution, the judiciary, and the ED as these institutions “have been captured by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.”
Raising a copy of the Constitution in his hand, Gandhi said, “The fight was to save the Constitution… we were sure that the citizens of India would make attempts to guard it and I would like to thank everyone.”
Gandhi lashed out at the ruling party for breaking political parties, putting chief ministers in jails and playing every possible tactic against the Congress.
He said that the election results were a clear message from the people to Modi, “we do not want you”.
Gandhi said that the most underprivileged citizens of the country had made the majority of efforts to save the constitution.
When asked about forming an alliance, the politician said that they had not yet made a decision regarding the future but a decision would be made after consultation with the allies. He also said that they hadn’t decided about forming the government or sitting on the opposition benches.
Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) have formed the bloc INDIA and have made a remarkable comeback taking the lead over the BJP-led NDA in Uttar Pradesh.
After the seven phases of polling for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 ended on June 1, exit polls had painted a positive picture for the BJP-led NDA government, predicting a remarkable third term for PM Modi.
Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi looked set on Tuesday to retain power at the head of a ruling coalition but his Hindu nationalist party lost its outright majority for the first time in a decade as voters defied predictions of another landslide.
The outcome unnerved investors, with stocks falling steeply as emerging results showed that Modi would, for the first time since sweeping to power in 2014, depend on at least three disparate regional parties whose political loyalties have wavered over the years.
This, analysts say, could introduce some uncertainty into policymaking in the world’s most populous democracy after a decade in which Modi has ruled with a strong hand.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a majority on its own in 2014, ending India’s era of unstable coalition governments, and repeated the feat in 2019.
Modi said people had placed their faith in the BJP-led coalition for a third time and it was historic, in his first comments since counting of votes began.
“The blessings of the people for the third time after 10 years boosts our morale, gives new strength,” Modi told cheering BJP members at party headquarters in New Delhi.
“Our opponents, despite being united, could not even win as many seats as BJP won.”
Promising to work harder and take “big decisions”, Modi listed electronics, semiconductors and defence manufacturing, renewables and the farm sectors as areas of special focus in his third term, without elaborating.
The blue-chip NIFTY 50 and the S&P BSE Sensex both tumbled about 6% each, posting their steepest decline on an election outcome day since 2004, when a BJP-led coalition lost power, as foreign institutional investors sold a record 124.36 billion rupees ($1.5 billion) worth of shares.
It was also the worst session since March 2020 for both the blue-chip indexes, when markets tanked due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. The rupee also fell sharply against the dollar and benchmark bond yields were up.
Markets had soared on Monday after exit polls on June 1 projected Modi and the BJP would register a big victory, and the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was seen getting a two-thirds majority and more.
At 1615 GMT, TV channels showed the NDA was ahead in about 290 of the 543 elective seats in the lower house of parliament, where 272 is an overall majority, with counting nearing its end.
Full results are likely later on Tuesday evening.
They showed BJP accounted for around 240 of the seats in which the NDA was leading, compared with the 303 it won in 2019.
