- Friday, January 24, 2025
The Hindu nationalist party won the constituency of Surat in the western state of Gujarat since the opposition candidates withdrew nominations.
By: Shubham Ghosh
COUNTING of votes India’s general election 2024 was set to kick off at 8 am local time on Tuesday (4) but seat tallies were showing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prime minister Narendra Modi already getting 1-0 ahead against the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc.
The unusual situation happened since the Hindu nationalist party has already won the constituency of Surat in the western state of Gujarat where no election took place. The BJP has won all 26 seats in Gujarat in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.
In the general category seat, the BJP’s Mukesh Dalal was declared the winner after all other eight candidates in the fray withdrew their nominations following the rejection of the nominations of the opposition Indian National Congress’s Nilesh Kumbhani and his substitute was rejected due to alleged anomalies in the signature of their documents. The election was supposed to be held on May 7 when the entire state went to polls.
However, Surat, which is also India’s diamond hub, has been a BJP stronghold as it has been winning in the seat consecutively since 1989. Former minister of state for railways Darshana Jardosh won from the seat for three consecutive elections (2009-19) before Dalal replaced her this year.
Read: Interview: Modi doesn’t have the kind of support he had in 2014, 2019, says Gujarat AAP leader
The parties and the alliances are looking to clinch 272 out of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha or the popularly elected Lower House of the parliament to form the next government. While Modi and the National Democratic Alliance led by his BJP are looking to get to power for the third consecutive term, the opposition bloc featuring the Indian National Congress is also hoping for a rebound.
Read: Forty-three days before poll results, Modi’s BJP wins first parliamentary seat
Several exit polls have predicted a clear sweep for the NDA with more than 350 seats, similar to their tally from the 2019 parliamentary elections. A few pollsters even forecast nearly 400 seats for the BJP-led alliance, aligning with the ambitious target set by PM Modi. They have predicted far less numbers for the INDIA bloc, which saw leaders of the opposition alliance refusing to agree with them.
