As India heads To LS Polls, Here’s A Look At The Largest Parties In 2019 And How They Stand Now

The Lok Sabha elections are the biggest event in a democracy across the world. With 543 seats going up for grabs over 44 days, 2024 will be the longest after the 1952 elections, which started on October 25, 1951, and ended on February 21, 1952. 

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The results of the elections will be declared on June 4.

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As the 2024 election dates draw closer, let’s take a look at how the largest parties in the Lower House fared in the last general polls and how they stand now. While the BJP’s strength has come down from 303 to 290, the party is aiming for 370 seats this year. 

The Congress, too, is down two seats to 49. The DMK has lost four seats in the last five years and has 20 seats. Both Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and Jagan Reddy’s YSRCP won 22 seats in the 2019 elections, but are down to 19 as the Lok Sabha elections 2024 approach. Nitish Kumar’s JD-U, which won 16 seats in 2019, still has 16 members in the Lower House. Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal, too, has retained its tally of 12 seats over these five years.

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The BJP has tied up with the JD(U) again after a brief split and cracked a seat-sharing of 17-16 in its favour. It has also tied up with HD Kumaraswamy’s JD-S in Karnataka but is yet to arrive at a seat-sharing arrangement. The JD(S) has 1 seat in the Lok Sabha that it won in 2019.

The Opposition front, known as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) is, however, still undecided about its candidates in several states. The “united” front, first floated on an idea by Nitish Kumar, is undecided about its constituent alliances in several states. In certain states like Punjab, Delhi, Kerala, and West Bengal the Congress is unlikely to be able to strike deals with the respective ruling parties. However, the alliance says that it is still working to find common ground to defeat the BJP. In some states, though, such as UP, I.N.D.I.A constituents have been able to crack seat-sharing deals. 

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