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1 1 (June 10, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/govepfx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informing the legislative debate since 1914 0 June 10, 2024 India's 2024 National Election Overyvew and Results The United States has been developing a strategic partnership with the Republic of India for two decades, and the U.S. Congress has broadly supported that engagement. Reflecting an interest in democracy and human rights in India, some Members of Congress have raised questions about how Narendra Modi's continued political dominance and Hindu-nationalist agenda might impact its consideration and oversight of the U.S.-India partnership. With about 970 million eligible voters, India's parliamentary democracy began its 2024 national election-again history's largest democratic exercise-in April, with seven phases over 43 days. About two-thirds of the electorate participated. On June 4, India's Election Commission announced the results of races for a new 543- seat Lok Sabha, parliament's lower house and the locus of national power. The central and near-universally-expected result was realized: continued rule for Prime Minister (PM) Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the world's largest political party. On June 8, Modi was sworn in for another five-year term, becoming only the second Indian PM to win three consecutive terms (the country's first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, accomplished this in 1962). The outcome was also seen by many Indian and external observers as a major and surprise rebuke for Modi and his party. After ten years with a Lok Sabha majority, the BJP had aspired to further boost its dominance in 2024-its leaders targeted 400 seats, up from 303 in 2019. The BJP won only 240 seats, far short of the 272 needed for a majority. The 73-year-old Modi must for the first time rely on allies in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to form a coalition government. With those allies, the NDA will hold 293 seats, or 54% of the chamber. Although parties opposed to Modi/BJP rule were unable to displace it this cycle, many saw their seat share vastly outpace expectations. In mid-2023, more than two dozen opposition parties had formed the new Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, coalition to contest the national elections. Most prominent in this grouping was the dynastic Indian National Congress (INC or Congress Party), which dominated the country's politics for its first 50 years of independence. After two consecutive routs at the national level-it won only 52 seats in 2019, short even of the 55 required to officially lead the opposition-the INC nearly doubled its standing, capturing 99 seats under the campaign leadership of Rahul Gandhi, heir to a lineage of three previous Indian PMs. Another prominent INDIA member, Uttar Pradesh's Samajwadi Party (SP) won 37 seats-a more than six-fold gain over 2019-making it the chamber's third-largest party and illuminating the BJP's electoral setbacks in India's densely- populated Hindi belt. In sum, the INDIA alliance won 234 seats, or 43% of the chamber. Both of the BJP's most important coalition partners- holding 16 and 12 seats, respectively-are avowedly secular, with nonideological interests firmly rooted in their respective states (Andhra Pradesh and Bihar; in 2019 the leader of the former called Modi a terrorist). This circumstance may lead Modi and the BJP to moderate some aspects of their previous positions, in particular those animated by Hindu nationalism. The BJP and Congress are, in practice, India's only genuinely national parties. As in the previous cycle, they collectively won more than half of all votes cast nationwide, 37% and 21%, respectively, virtually unchanged over 2019. Yet, with the BJP's seat count dropping by more than one-fifth, India's national politics will again feature the critical influence of state-based parties, as was the case from 1996-2014. The BJP remains dominant: it won more seats than the next nine parties combined, as well as more than the INDIA alliance total. First-time parliamentarians won 52% of the chamber's seats, and the 18th Lok Sabha will be somewhat more youthful than its predecessor (an average age of 56, down from 59). Of the total, 14% are women, a slight decline. The number of Muslim members declined from 27 to 24, none NDA supporters (Muslims comprise 14% of India's population and now hold less than 5% of Lok Sabha seats). About one-quarter of seats are held by upper-caste figures; a slight majority of seats was won by lower caste (16%), tribal (10%), and other backward castes (25%) combined. 18th Lok SabMa So obeat won Reactions and Impicatons PM Modi declared victory on election day, and one senior BJP proponent affirmed the party's performance as a vote of confidence in its leadership, while acknowledging some voter dissatisfaction. India's major newspapers played up the opposition's unexpected successes. As election results came in, the Bombay Stock Exchange had its worst day in four years, its main index dipping by nearly 6%, with nearly $400 billion in losses. Upon his swearing in, Modi took a consensus-seeking posture as he seated an unusually large Council of Ministers with 72 figures, 11 of them non-BJP partners.

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