INDIA shining

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc on Tuesday delivered better-than-expected results in the 2024 general elections.

- RAGHAV AGGARWAL

The bloc, which was formed in 2023 to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saw major gains in the two biggest states by number of seats Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

It also outperformed in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, signalling that the strategy of fighting together may have worked. Congress had given up its seats for the alliance and was contesting the lowest number of seats since Independence at 328.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi said that Congress leaders respected INDIA bloc allies and "we fought as one."

According to the Election Commission data (at 8:00 pm), the INDIA bloc was leading in 234 seats.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was leading in 291 seats, much lower than the exit poll prediction of 350400 seats.

Other parties were leading in 18 seats.

Most exit polls had predicted that the INDIA bloc would win around 150 seats.

The most notable gains were made by the alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Here, Samajwadi Party (SP) was leading in 37 seats and Congress in 6 seats.

The BJP was leading in 33 seats, much lower than 62 seats in 2019.