South India boost for BJP, breakthrough likely in Tamil Nadu & Kerala: News18 exit poll

Narendra Modi during a campaign rally in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Photo: Bloomberg

BJP is set to make significant headway into the southern states in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and emerge as the single-largest party in south India, according to News18's mega exit poll.

The exit poll has predicted 36-39 seats for BJP in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The Congress is expected to win 31-34 seats, according to the exit poll. There are altogether 130 seats, including that of Puducherry, in south India.

If the predictions hold true, then it will be an impressive gain for BJP in the southern heartland, where it won 29 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The News18 exit poll said that BJP-led NDA is set to pull off a near-repeat of its 2019 performance in Karnataka, winning 23-26 seats. BJP contested the election in alliance with JD(S).

The prediction said that BJP alone will win 21-24 seats in the state while Congress may improve its tally to 3-7 seats.

For Tamil Nadu, News18 exit poll predicted that DMK-Congress alliance will win 36-39 seats. This is more or less similar to the 2019 results when the DMK-led alliance dominated the polls and won 38 of the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu.

Interestingly, the exit poll has predicted that BJP may win 1-3 seats in Tamil Nadu, a state where it was eyeing a major breakthrough this year.

The News18 exit poll further predicted handsome gains for NDA in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In Andhra, the exit poll said that NDA will win 19-22 seats while the Jagan Reddy-led YSR Congress will get only 5-8. BJP, TDP and Jana Sena are part of the NDA in Andhra Pradesh.

In Telangana too, BJP is set to dominate the show, according to exit polls. It predicted that BJP will win 7-10 seats while the ruling Congress will bag 5-8 constituencies. Others, including BRS and AIMIM, are expected to get anywhere between 3 to 5 seats, the exit poll predicted.

BJP is looking to expand its footprint in south India, the only region where it has not quite dominated the electoral landscape since forming the government at the Centre in 2014.

So far, Karnataka is the only state where BJP has been able to expand its influence over the years. In Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, it has not been able to break the hegemony of regional outfits or replace Congress as the principal challenger.