This is part of a series of stories on the 2024 general elections in which the numbers do the talking.
The seven-phase election has been among the longest and the hottest election this country has seen. It has also been a matter of controversy.
Across phases, the fortunes of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and that of the main opposition, Congress-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) twisted and turned. NDA took a comprehensive hit in the first and the last phase. INDIA did worse than NDA in four phases. In one phase, the fifth, there was a tie between the two alliances.
The maximum number of seats amongst the 542 constituencies voted in the first phase with 109 seats voting on April 19. The results show how INDIA saw a very good strike rate in phase one, their best in the election. They won 66 of 109 seats or 63.73% of the seats. NDA won only 34 (33.33%). This phase saw Tamil Nadu and Puducherry polls for all 40 seats, where INDIA swept.
Interestingly, it was two days after this that Prime Minister Narendra Modi started resorting to hate-speech. On April 21, in Rajasthan’s Banswara, he referred to Muslims as “those who have more children” and termed them “infiltrators.” He also started spreading misinformation about Congress’s manifesto, saying they would take away all resources of the poor and hand it to their vote bank, the Muslims.
Phase two was held on April 26 with 87 seats going to polls in this phase. NDA got 53 of 87 seats, doing better than INDIA, raking a tally of 60.23% of the seats. INDIA got only 32 seats here, less than one-third of the total number up for grabs.
Phase three on May 7, with 94 seats, also saw NDA rake in most seats. Just under three-fourths of the seats that voted went to them. INDIA got a little over one-fourth at 26 out of the 94 seats. This phase saw 25 seats of Gujarat vote, one was decided before the polls itself.
The fourth phase on May 13, which was the second-largest phase of these polls, again saw NDA get 62.5% of the seats, with 60 seats. INDIA managed just one-third of the seats at 31. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had their single-day poll in this phase, a total of 42 seats.
In the fifth phase on May 20, the shortest phase of these polls, with just 49 seats voting, both alliances were evenly placed. INDIA had a slight edge as it won 24 and NDA won 23 seats.
In the the sixth phase, on May 25, 58 seats polled and NDA got 37 of them while INDIA managed just 21. Haryana and Delhi went to polls, among others, in this phase.
The last phase, on June 1, saw the prime minister’s constituency, Varanasi, also going to polls along with all seats of Punjab. INDIA came in with a bang and managed to best the ruling alliance with 59.65% of the seats. NDA managed just 20 seats, or just over one-third of the seats in this phase.
Text by Seema Chishti.
Visualisation by Elisha Vermani.
