Lok Sabha elections: The schedule for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 will be announced on Saturday by the Election Commission, thus enforcing the Model of Conduct thereafter. The stage is set for the biggest contest among the political parties for the top post of governance - the Prime Ministership. The BJP, which is the ruling party along with its NDA allies, is eyeing a record third consecutive term, setting the target of 370 for the party and over 400 for the alliance. The Opposition, Congress is a part of which, has attempted to unite under the umbrella of a grand alliance ‘I.N.D.I.A’ aiming to dethrone the ruling saffron party.
The Election Commission will announce the dates of the general elections at 3 pm today (March 16). Let’s take a look at the details of the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections when the NDA came to power with majority and the Opposition struggled to stitch a formidable alliance to compete with the BJP.
General elections 2014
Lok Sabha elections 2014 were held in nine phases, beginning from April 7 to 12 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. The ECI had announced the elections on March 5. The election results were declared on May 16.
Voters
There were over 830 million registered voters, constituting the largest-ever elections in the world till then. Nearly 23.1 million voters were between 18 and 19 years of age.
Candidates
A total of 8251 candidates were in the fray in the 543 Lok Sabha seats. The entire elections had registered an average voter turnout of 66.4 per cent which was the highest in the history of the country’s general elections. There were 989 counting centres spread across the country.
Results of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections
The BJP, which was in Opposition then, successfully dislodged Congress-led UPA government from power at the Centre, winning 282 seats on its own with a total vote share of 31 per cent. The NDA won 336 seats in totality, securing 38.5 per cent votes across the country. Meanwhile, the then ruling Congress-led UPA was reduced to only 59 seats, out of which the grand old party’s seat share was 44 in its worst-ever show till then. Congress received 19.3 per cent votes. There was no official Opposition party in the 16th Lok Sabha as a party must have 55 seats to be named as official Opposition in the country.
The then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was declared the BJP’s face for the prime minister ahead of the elections, went on to be sworn in as the Prime Minister of the country, whereas Rahul Gandhi failed to win the elections.
General elections 2019
The polls to elect the members of 17th Lok Sabha were held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19, 2019. The elections were announced on March 10 and the results were out on May 23, resulting in a landslide victory of the ruling BJP and the return of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the office with even bigger mandate.
Voters
A voter turnout of over 67 per cent, the highest ever, was recorded out of the nearly 912 million people who were eligible to vote. The election registered the highest ever participation by women voters.
Results of the elections
The ruling BJP garnered over 37 per cent votes and won over 303 seats. The NDA crossed the 350 seats mark and won 353 seats with a vote share of 45 per cent.
The Congress won 52 seats and once again failed to secure the position of the official Opposition. The UPA cumulatively won 91 seats while other parties won 98 seats.
