6 lakh votes separated BJP from the 272-seat threshold: Survey
Five years ago, it received 22.9 crore votes (37.3%), but this time it received 23.59 crore votes (36.6% vote share).
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi expected to take the oath of office for a third consecutive term on June 8, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is poised to create its third consecutive government at the federal level. But, the saffron party lost out on what would have been a hat-trick of single-party majorities for the JP Nadda-led group, with 240 seats in the 543-member House.
With 293 Lok Sabha seats gained, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has 21 more seats than the majority (272).
A post-election analysis suggests that the BJP missed out on garnering 272 seats on its own by just over six lakh votes. Five years ago, it received 22.9 crore votes (37.3%), but this time it received 23.59 crore votes (36.6% vote share).
The study’s findings are as follows:
1.) With 609,639 more votes, the BJP would have won 272 seats. These are dispersed among 32 seats in different states and Union territories; in these seats, the BJP candidates narrowly lost to the winners.
2.)According to the survey, the BJP lost by a mere 2509 votes in the Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency. Similar close losses were suffered by the party at Hamirpur (Uttar Pradesh; 2629 margin), Salempur (Uttar Pradesh; 3573), Dhule (Maharashtra; 3831), Dhaurahra (Uttar Pradesh; 4449), Daman and Diu (Daman and Diu; 6225), Arambagh (West Bengal; 6399), and Beed (Maharashtra; 6553).
3.) Within these close defeats, larger margins were noted in 16 constituencies, ranging from 20,942 in Punjab’s Ludhiana to the highest of 34,329 in Kheri, Uttar Pradesh.
4.) A total of 168 sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) were kept in office by the BJP, 111 of whom (66%) were re-elected.
5.)Conversely, the party maintained 95 (72%) of the 132 seats where the current Members of Parliament were not re-elected. It fielded 441 candidates in total.
