Lok Sabha elections 2024: Past results, key parties, candidates and all you need to know about Indian elections

In the previous two Lok Sabha elections, the PM Modi-led BJP put up a dominant performance and reduced its national rival Congress to mere double digits in the lower house. The saffron party had previously completed its full term at the Centre as part of the broader NDA coalition during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee rule in 1999-2004. However, in both 2014 and 2019, BJP managed to secure a majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha on its own.

In 2014, BJP stormed to power by winning 282 seats in the Lok Sabha. Its coalition NDA secured 353 seats. The Congress was reduced to just 44 seats in the Lok Sabha, its lowest ever tally in history. In terms of vote share, BJP managed to secure 31% of the total votes while Congress won 19.3% of the total votes cast.

In 2019, BJP improved its tally even further, winning 303 seats in the lower house. It was the first time in over three and a half decades that a party managed to cross the 300-seat mark in the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress, which was again the principal opponent, managed to improve its seat tally slightly as it won 52 seats in the general election. Notably, the BJP saw a big surge in its vote share, winning 37.3% of the votes in 2019.

Visual representation of India’s party-wise seat share after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls

Besides BJP and Congress, regional parties like TMC, SP, AIADMK, DMK, JD(U), BSP, AAP, TDP, YSR Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP were also in the fray from their respective states.

Performance of top 5 parties in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP is eyeing a record third successive term in power as it seeks to cement its legacy in the Indian political landscape. PM Modi and his ministers are already confident of returning for a third term, promising that India will become the third largest economy during the period from 2024 to 2029. Moreover, the BJP has set itself an ambitious target of 370 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.

On the other hand, BJP’s main rival Congress is looking to improve its seat share in the Lok Sabha even as it tries to deftly negotiate seat-share pacts with opposition parties. For the Congress, a party that ruled India for nearly 60 years, the general election is another litmus test since it is striving to recover lost political ground in an evolving new space dominated by BJP and other regional players.

Key players

The election is again being dubbed as PM Modi vs the rest in the absence of a single opposition face to counter the BJP. However, a host of leaders from both sides of the political divide are dominating the narrative in the run up to the general election.

For BJP, PM Modi is of course the electoral poster boy who is already criss-crossing the country to woo voters across the states. The focus for PM Modi will be the southern states, where BJP has posted a subpar performance compared to its dominant show in the north. Besides PM Modi, leaders like Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and a host of Union ministers will be headlining the BJP’s campaign in 2024.

In the opposition ranks, a host of leaders will be spearheading the campaign across states. Rahul Gandhi, who has already embarked on his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra before the official campaigning begins, will be leading the Congress’s campaign. Priyanka Gandhi will also be in focus amid buzz that she could enter the poll fray this year.

Others prominent leaders like Mamata Banerjee (TMC), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), N Chandrababu Naidu (TDP), Arvind Kejriwal (AAP), Jagan Reddy (YSRC), MK Stalin (DMK), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena - UBT), Naveen Patnaik (BJD), Mayawati (BSP), K Chandrasekhar Rao (BRS) will lead the campaigns for their respective parties.