Voting for the Lok Sabha elections, spread across seven phases, came to an end on June 1. Starting from April 19, 64.2 crore people, including 31.2 crore women, cast their ballot creating a “world record”, said the Election Commission on Monday.
People voted amid an intense heatwave in a six-week election, the results of which will be declared on Tuesday (June 4). Voters are choosing 543 members for the lower house of Parliament for a five-year term.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is seeking a third term with almost all exit polls predicting a landslide win for his party, the BJP. The ruling alliance is pitted against a broad alliance of opposition parties, including important regional parties, called INDIA represented by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Votes were cast at more than 10 lakh polling stations, with big states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar going to the polls in each of the seven phases. According to the country’s first-past-the-post multiparty electoral system, a party or coalition must breach the mark of 272 seats to secure a majority.
A majority of exit polls have projected that Modi may extend his decade in power with a third consecutive term, on the back of economic performance and the inauguration of the Ramjanmabhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya. Another victory will cement the 73-year-old as one of India’s most popular and important leaders. It will follow a thumping win in 2019, when the BJP clinched an absolute majority by sweeping 303 Lok Sabha seats while the Congress managed only 52. He first swept to power in 2014 on promises of economic development, presenting himself as an outsider cracking down on corruption.
Read The Latest Updates On Lok Sabha Election 2024 Here.
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