New Delhi: It was an experiment that was set in motion last June, in a hot and humid Patna, with Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar playing the gracious host.
Leaders of 17 opposition parties had huddled at the residence of Kumar, initiating the process of forming the pre-poll Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), essentially a rebranded United Progressive Alliance (UPA) that had practically ceased to exist after the decimation of the Congress in the 2014 general elections.
The objective, as spelt out in the press conference after the inaugural meeting, was to come together in “national interest”, and defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party by sharing seats to prevent the split of opposition’s vote banks. The summit had ended with the promise of more rounds of meetings in the subsequent months.
One year, more meetings, seat-sharing pacts, some entries and many exits later, the INDIA bloc has surpassed expectations, dragging the BJP’s numbers down to a point, where it seems unlikely that it would cross the halfway mark of 272 on its own.
As of 5:30 PM, the INDIA parties are leading in 231 seats, while the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is ahead in 295 seats. The BJP has won 36 seats and is leading in 203, while the Congress has claimed nine wins and is leading in 90 seats.
In 2019, the BJP alone had won 303 seats, while the Congress had to settle with 52 seats only.
In the 2014 elections, the BJP had bagged 282 seats, while the Congress had hit a record low of 44 seats — the culmination of a tumultuous few years for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-led government.
State-wise performance
The BJP received the biggest blow in Uttar Pradesh, where the Samajwadi Party is leading in 38 seats. As of 5:30 PM, BJP — which had bagged 62 seats in 2019 and 71 in 2014 — has won three and is leading in 28 seats. The Congress has won one and is leading in six seats, including Amethi and Rae Bareli, in the state.
In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is leading in 29 constituencies, eight more than it won last time. The BJP, which was hoping to double its tally, may find it sliced by half instead, with the party currently maintaining a lead in 12 seats only.
In Tamil Nadu, the INDIA bloc may be looking at a clean sweep. It is another state where the BJP had claimed that it was on the rise. While its vote share has shown some increase, the party is likely to draw a blank in terms of seats. Even its state chief K. Annamalai, upon whom BJP was banking to shore up its prospects, is trailing by over 66,000 votes.
TMC was not part of the Congress-led UPA I, which governed the country between 2004-2009, while the DMK was part of UPA I as well as UPA II (2009-2014). TMC became a part of UPA II, after the Congress increased its tally to 206, but as the coalition tottered with allegations of corruption, DMK exited the bloc.
While the Mamata Banerjee-led party is technically in the INDIA bloc, it did not strike any seat-sharing deal with the Congress and the Left in West Bengal, fielding candidates in the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats alone. However, Banerjee has maintained that she will back the INDIA bloc after the polls.
Maharashtra is another battleground state, where INDIA bloc members Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) have paced ahead of the NDA allies — Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar).
The Shiv Sena and NCP factions contesting under the INDIA bloc’s umbrella are ahead in 10 (1 win and leading in nine) and seven seats respectively. The Sena faction allying with the NDA is leading in six, while NCP (Ajit Pawar) has bagged one seat.
As INDIA breathes down the neck of NDA, all eyes are on Bihar CM and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, who had walked out of the INDIA bloc, dealing it a major setback in the run-up to the elections despite being its primary architect. The JD(U) is currently leading in 12 seats in Bihar.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)