Who does Modi’s ruling party want to form a new Indian government?

NEW DELHI:

There are at least two major alliance partners that India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will tap into to form the government after the ruling party fell short of a 272-seat majority in Tuesday’s vote count in India’s general election.

The two allies are the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United), which are the regional partners of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is now set to return to power, with Narendra Modi as prime minister for the third consecutive term.

The Telugu Desam Party is led by Chandrababu Naidu, former chief minister of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. His party won 16 seats, according to Tuesday’s vote count.

The Janata Dal (United) is led by Nitish Kumar, who is currently the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Bihar. Kumar, who is known for frequently switching political alliances, returned to the NDA earlier this year and was the key player behind the formation of the opposition INDIA alliance. Kumar’s party won 12 seats in Tuesday’s result.

According to final results announced by India’s Election Commission, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 240 seats in the 543-member lower house of parliament, while the main opposition Indian National Congress got 99 seats.

The BJP, however, fell short of a majority of 272 seats on its own.

In 2019, the BJP won 303 seats, while it achieved an absolute majority in 2014 by securing 282 seats. The Congress party won 44 and 52 seats in the 2014 and 2019 elections respectively.

Also Read: India Elections Surprising As Modi’s Alliance Wins Majority

Tuesday’s results, however, showed the NDA alliance winning over 272 seats, the number required to form the government, while the opposition alliance secured over 230 seats.

According to political experts, Modi’s third term is likely to be difficult under the coalition government.

“In India, we have two models of coalition politics. Firstly it is a single majority party, which as a courtesy party will include the alliance partners and secondly we have a model where no party has a clear majority and therefore a coalition,” Indian political commentator Rasheed Kidwai told Anadolu.

He said it was difficult to imagine how Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be able to serve the third term with such a coalition. He said that in a coalition government, there are many “demands, attitudes, from the allied partners”.

Before voting began in the six-week marathon election on April 19, Modi’s alliance had set a target of 400 seats and 370 for his own party.

Tuesday’s winners also include jailed Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh, who won a seat from the northern state of Punjab. Singh, who revived calls for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab, is currently in jail in northeast India.