2019 Indian general election

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2019 Indian general election

← 2014 11 April – 19 May 2019[a] 2024 →

543 of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha[b]
272 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered911,950,734
Turnout67.40% (Increase 0.96pp)
  First party Second party
 
PM Modi Portrait(cropped).jpg
Rahul Gandhi in Shillong (cropped).jpg
Leader Narendra Modi Rahul Gandhi
Party BJP INC
Alliance NDA UPA
Last election 31.00%, 282 seats 19.31%, 44 seats
Seats won 303 52
Seat change Increase 21 Increase 8
Popular vote 229,076,879 119,495,214
Percentage 37.36% 19.49%
Swing Increase 6.36pp Increase 0.18pp
Alliance seats 353 91

Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Narendra Modi
BJP

Prime Minister after election

Narendra Modi
BJP

General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May.[1][2][3][4] Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and voter turnout was over 67 per cent – the highest ever, as well as the highest ever participation by women voters.[5][6][c]

The Bharatiya Janata Party received 37.36% of the vote, the highest vote share by a political party since the 1989 general election, and won 303 seats, further increasing its substantial majority.[8] In addition, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 353 seats.[9] The BJP won 37.76%[10] of votes, while the NDA's combined vote was 45% of the 603.7 million votes that were polled.[11][12] The Indian National Congress won 52 seats, failing to get 10% of the seats needed to claim the post of Leader of the Opposition.[13] In addition, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won 91 seats, while other parties won 98 seats.[14]

by-elections of twenty-two seats of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.[17]

Electoral system

All 543 elected

Anglo-Indian community if he believes that community is under-represented.[18]

Eligible voters must be Indian citizens, 18 or older than 18, an ordinary resident of the polling area of the constituency and registered to vote (name included in the electoral rolls), possess a valid voter identification card issued by the Election Commission of India or an equivalent.[19] Some people convicted of electoral or other offences are barred from voting.[20]

The elections are held on schedule and as per the Constitution of India that mandates parliamentary elections once every five years.[21]

Election schedule

Official logo,
"Desh ka Maha त्यौहार"
Election Dates of Indian General Election, 2019
Election schedule

The election schedule was announced by

Model Code of Conduct came into effect.[22][23]

The election was scheduled to be held in seven phases. In Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the election was held in all seven phases. The polling for the

Anantnag constituency in the state of Jammu and Kashmir was held in three phases, due to violence in the region.[24]

Phase-wise polling constituencies in each state
State/Union territory Total

constituencies

Election dates and number of constituencies
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Phase 6 Phase 7
11 April 18 April 23 April 29 April 6 May 12 May 19 May
Andhra Pradesh 25 25
Arunachal Pradesh 2 2
Assam 14 5 5 4
Bihar 40 4 5 5 5 5 8 8
Chhattisgarh 11 1 3 7
Goa 2 2
Gujarat 26 26
Haryana 10 10
Himachal Pradesh 4 4
Jammu and Kashmir 6 2 2 13[n 1] 13[n 1] 113[n 1]
Jharkhand 14 3 4 4 3
Karnataka 28 14 14
Kerala 20 20
Madhya Pradesh 29 6 7 8 8
Maharashtra 48 7 10 14 17
Manipur 2 1 1
Meghalaya 2 2
Mizoram
1 1
Nagaland
1 1
Odisha 21 4 5 6 6
Punjab 13 13
Rajasthan 25 13 12
Sikkim
1 1
Tamil Nadu 39 38[n 2]
Telangana 17 17
Tripura 2 1 1[n 3]
Uttar Pradesh 80 8 8 10 13 14 14 13
Uttarakhand 5 5
West Bengal 42 2 3 5 8 7 8 9
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
1 1
Chandigarh
1 1
Dadra and Nagar Haveli
1 1
Daman and Diu
1 1
Delhi 7 7
Lakshadweep
1 1
Puducherry 1 1
Constituencies 543 91 95 11613 7113 5013 59 59
Total constituencies by end of phase 542 91 186 30213 37323 424 483 542[n 2]
% complete by end of phase 17% 34% 56% 69% 78% 89% 100%
Result 543 23 May 2019
  1. ^ a b c Polling in Anantnag was scheduled over three days.
  2. ^
    Vellore was cancelled, with the election later held on 5 August 2019. (see below
    )
  3. Tripura East
    was rescheduled from 18 to 23 April.

Rescheduled voting, cancellations

  • Vellore constituency. The DMK leaders denied wrongdoing and alleged a conspiracy.[26]
  • Tripura East, Tripura: The Election Commission of India deferred polling from 18 to 23 April due to the law and order situation.[27] The poll panel took the decision following reports from the Special Police Observers that the circumstances were not conducive for holding free and fair elections in the constituency.[28]

Campaign

Issues

Allegations of undermining institutions

The opposition parties accused the NDA government of destroying democratic institutions and processes.[29] Modi denied these allegations, and blamed Congress and the communists for undermining institutions including the police, the CBI, and the CAG, and cited the murder of BJP activists in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.[30] The Congress party, along with other opposition parties and a group of retired civil servants, accused the ECI of being compromised, and implied that they endorsed the model code of conduct violations by Narendra Modi and other BJP political leaders during their campaigns.[31][verification needed] Another group of 81 retired civil servants, judges and academics disputed these allegations, made counter-allegations, and stated that the ECI acted fairly and similarly in alleged violations by either side. The group stated that such political attacks on the ECI were a "deliberate attempt to denigrate and delegitimise the democratic institutions".[32][verification needed]

Economic performance

According to

Indian economy has been growing in recent years, its GDP growth rate is among the highest in the world for major economies, and India is expected to be the fastest growing major economy in 2019–2020 and 2020–2021, with real GDP projected to grow at 7.3 per cent.[34][35][36] The GDP growth data has been disputed[33] by a group of Indian social scientists, economists and the political opposition's election campaign, while a group of Indian chartered accountants has defended the data, the GDP calculation methodology, and questioned the motivations of those disputing the recent Indian GDP statistics.[37]

The opposition's election campaign has claimed that both the demonetisation and GST law have "seriously hit small business, farmers and casual labour", states The Times of India.[33][38] The incumbent has claimed that they inherited a country from the previous Congress-led government that was "a legacy of policy paralysis, corruption and economic fragility", and that the BJP-led government policies have placed India on better economic fundamentals and a fast gear.[39] Modi claims that his government pursued demonetisation in the national interest, his government has identified and de-registered 338,000 shell companies, identified and recovered 130,000 crore (US$16 billion) in black money since 2014, and almost doubled India's tax base.[40][41] The Congress party disputes the incumbents' claims, and has alleged that BJP offices have "become hubs of creating black money", and seeks a judicial inquiry into the Rafale deal with France and BJP's role in corruption.[42]

National security and terrorism