Analysis: The 6.1 lakh votes that may have separated BJP from a Lok Sabha majority

BJP fell 32 seats short of winning a simple majority in Lok Sabha

BJP's inability to secure a majority in Lok Sabha was the big summary of this election. The party, which stormed to power with 282 seats in 2014 and 303 in 2019, fell short of the magic figure of 272 this time. The party won 240 seats in the lower house, just 32 short of a simple majority.

Consequently, it now needs support of allies like TDP and JD(U) to form a new government at the Centre.

A purely theoritical analysis by CNN-News18 shows that majority would not have eluded BJP had it just secured an extra 6.1 lakh votes across 32 constituencies where the margin of victory was wafer thin.

For this, CNN-News18 analysed 32 seats where BJP was the runner-up and the margin of victory varied from 2,500 votes to 34,329 votes. Since the average margin of victory in this election was nearly 1.6 lakh votes, it won't be a stretch to say that the seats analysed here saw a close contest.

Notably, eight of these constituencies were in Uttar Pradesh alone - the state where BJP saw the maximum erosion of seats.

Together, the difference between the winner and loser in these seats adds up to a total of 6,09,639 votes. In other words, had BJP secured these extra votes - in varying numbers depending on the constituency - it could have made up for the shortfall in the Lok Sabha, theoretically speaking.

Here's a look at these seats: