STRIKING A BALANCE

Indian voters grant Modi a historic third term, but without a majority and with the object lesson to rule by consensus

- RAJ CHENGAPPA

IT is not quite the way Narendra Modi wanted to go down in India’s electoral history. When he takes oath on June 9, Modi will be only the second prime minister in six decades to have served a third consecutive term. That’s an outstanding achievement by itself. But for Modi, the outcome of Election 2024 is seen as a personal setback. Having led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to back-toback majorities in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, he would have liked to equal the record set by Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister. Nehru had a hat trick of Lok Sabha majorities for the Congress party in 1952, 1957 and 1962 elections. It was not to be for Modi, who was denied a majority in Election 2024.