The 2024 Lok Sabha election: a majority for the alliance, not for one party

India's 2024 general election was held in seven phases between 19 April and 1 June 2024, to elect all 543 members of the 18th Lok Sabha. About 970 million people were eligible to vote, making it the largest democratic exercise ever held. Counting took place on 4 June 2024, and the result surprised many observers who had expected a larger majority for the ruling party.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won 240 seats, down from 303 in 2019, and short of the 272 needed for a majority on its own. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, however, won 293 seats, enough to form the government. Its two largest allies were the Telugu Desam Party, with 16 seats, and the Janata Dal (United), with 12 seats, and their support became essential in a way it had not been in the previous two Lok Sabhas, when the BJP had a majority alone.

The opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance won 234 seats in total. The Congress, its largest party, improved from 52 seats in 2019 to 99 seats, while the Samajwadi Party won 37 seats, the Trinamool Congress 29, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 22. The result gave the opposition a substantially larger presence in the House, and a stronger claim to the role of a check on the government, than it had held since 2014.

Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister for a third consecutive term on 9 June 2024, leading a coalition government for the first time in his tenure as Prime Minister. The shift from single-party majority to coalition majority changed the politics of the Lok Sabha, even though the Prime Minister and the governing alliance remained the same. Allies gained leverage over policy, appointments, and the legislative agenda, and the government could no longer assume that its Bills would pass without negotiation.

For civil studies readers, 2024 is a reminder that vote share and seat share are different things, and that a national result is the sum of state contests. The BJP remained by far the largest single party, with more seats than the next several parties combined, yet the arithmetic of 240 out of 543 meant that coalition management, not just parliamentary arithmetic, became the central skill of government.