Nachiket Deuskar
Moneycontrol News
Arithmetic permutations and combinations are being calculated as India inches closer to the Lok Sabha elections. The country will head for polls in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes will happen on May 23.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to retain power along with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners. They are being challenged by the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and other Opposition parties.
Multiple opinion surveys have predicted the possibility of a hung Parliament. They also predict that the BJP, which nearly swept northern India in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, will face heavy losses there. Therefore, to offset those losses, the saffron party is trying to make inroads into eastern, north-eastern and southern India.
Here’s a look at how the southern states voted in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls:
Karnataka
This is the only state in southern India where the BJP enjoys significant support and has a robust organisation. Ahead of the general election, former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa returned to the BJP fold and merged his party. This significantly propelled the party’s performance, winning 17 out of the state’s 28 seats.
The Congress came second with nine seats while the Janata Dal (Secular) won two.
In terms of vote share, the BJP was placed first (43.37 percent), then Congress (41.15 percent) and followed by JD(S) (11.07 percent).
Kerala
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) got the better of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala. The UDF won 12 out of the state’s 20 seats: Congress (eight), Indian Union Muslim League (two), Kerala Congress (Mani) (one) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (one).
The LDF won the remaining eight: Communist Party of India (Marxist) (five), Communist Party of India (one) and two Independents that it had supported.
The UDF and the LDF had a vote share of around 40.7 percent and 38.4 percent, respectively.
Also read: Opinion | UDF is set to sweep Kerala following Rahul Gandhi's candidature
Telangana
The state headed into polls, ahead of its official bifurcation from Andhra Pradesh, to elect its first Assembly and its first set of 17 Lok Sabha Members of Parliament (MP).
The bifurcation clearly had its effect on the election which saw 11 members of the pro-bifurcation Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) get elected.
The Congress managed to win two seats in the state. The BJP and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were fighting in an alliance and managed to win one seat each in the state.
YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party won one seat while All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM)’s Asaduddin Owaisi retained the family bastion of Hyderabad.
Andhra Pradesh
The TDP-BJP alliance won 17 out of the 25 seats in the state heading for bifurcation. The YSRCP picked up the remaining eight seats.
The Congress, which had won 33 out of the 42 seats in the outgoing Lok Sabha, failed to win any seats. Political observers suggest this was because of the decision to grant statehood to Telangana.
Tamil Nadu
The state was swept by J Jayalalithaa-led All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The party won 37 out of the state’s 39 seats. This meant that its rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) failed to win a single seat in the Lower House of Parliament.
The BJP won the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat while its ally Paattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) won the Dharmapuri seat.
The AIADMK secured 44.9 percent of the votes in the state. Despite not winning a seat, DMK’s secured 23.9 percent of the votes. The BJP and the PMK got 5.5 and 4.4 percent of the votes, respectively.
Union Territories
There are three Union Territories in southern India — Lakshadweep, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar. All three territories have one Lok Sabha constituency each.
In 2014, the Lakshadweep seat was won by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Mohammed Faizal, securing 50.2 percent of the votes. Congress’ Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed finished second with 46.6 percent of the votes.
The lone Puducherry seat was won by All India NR Congress with a 35.6 percent vote share. The All India NR Congress was and remains part of the NDA.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lok Sabha constituency was won by the BJP, with a 48.1 vote stare. The Congress candidate came second with a 44 percent vote share.
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