The results for all Lok Sabha constituencies in the 2024 general elections were announced Wednesday early morning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a third term in government but without a majority of its own for the first time since sweeping to power in 2014.
According to the official results, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 295 seats, while the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc surprised everyone by clinching 231 seats, contrary to all exit poll predictions.
The BJP emerged victorious in 240 out of 543 seats, unable to pass the magic number of 272. The ruling party now depends on the support of key allies, including the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh with 16 seats and the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar, which secured 12 seats.
In several seats, the candidates won and lost by the smallest margins, while some constituencies witnessed huge margins of victory.
Let’s take a look.
Constituencies with small victory margins
- Ravindra Dattaram Waikar, Maharashtra
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the candidate of the Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena, Ravindra Dattaram Waikar, obtained the smallest margin of victory in Maharashtra.
He won the Mumbai North West constituency by just 48 votes over Amol Gajanan Kirtikar, the Shiv Sena UBT candidate.
Kirtikar received 452,596 votes from his constituency, however, Waikar received 452,644 votes.
- Adoor Prakash, Kerala
Congress candidate Adoor Prakash won Kerala’s Attingal constituency by a 684-vote margin.
With 328,051 votes, Prakash defeated V Joy, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate, who received 327,367 votes.
- Bajrang Manohar Sonwane, Maharashtra
In another constituency, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) candidate Bajrang Manohar Sonwane won the Beed constituency in Maharashtra by a margin of 6,553 votes.
Sonwane secured 683,950 votes, while Pankaja Gopinathrao Munde, the BJP candidate, secured 677,397 votes.
Congress’ Bacchav Shobha Dinesh in Dhule secured a win by a margin of 3,831 votes.
- Ajendra Lodhi, Uttar Pradesh
Ajendra Lodhi, a candidate for the Samajwadi Party (SP), won the seat in Hamirpur by a margin of 2,629 votes.
Lodhi received 490,683 votes, whereas BJP’s Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel received 488,054 votes.
In Salempur, another UP seat with the smallest margin went to SP candidate Ramashankar Rajbhar, who defeated BJP rival Ravindra Kushawaha by 3,753 votes.
Kushawaha garnered 401,899 votes, while Rajbhar received 405,472 votes.
BJP’s Praveen Patel from Phulpur won by a margin of 4,332 votes.
Another BJP candidate Kamlesh Paswan from Bansgaon secured a win by a margin of 3,150 votes.
- Rao Rajendra Singh, Rajasthan
BJP candidate Rao Rajendra Singh has won from the Jaipur Rural constituency by a margin of 1,615 votes.
- Brojraj Nag, Chhattisgarh
Brojraj Nag, the BJP candidate from Kanker in Chhattisgarh emerged victorious by a margin of 1,884 votes.
- Aruna DK, Telangana
BJP’s Aruna DK from Mahabubnagar won with less then 5,000 votes.
- Mitali Bag, West Bengal
TMC’s Mitali Bag from the Arambagh constituency secured a win with a margin of 6,399 votes.
BJP’s Saumitra Khan from Bishnupur in West Bengal won by 5,567 votes.
Seats with huge victory margins
- Amit Shah, Gujarat
Union Minister and BJP candidate registered a win in Gandhinagar by a huge margin of 744,716 votes.
- Shankar Lalwani, Madhya Pradesh
The largest victory of any BJP candidate in the state came from sitting BJP MP Shankar Lalwani, who won the Indore Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 10.08 lakh votes.
Interestingly, with over two lakh votes, NOTA came in second.
Congress nominee Akshay Kanti Bam from Indore had abruptly withdrawn his nomination papers, making way for easy win for Lalwani.
Notably, all 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh are held by the BJP.
Some other BJP candidates who won by more than five lakh vote margins are Sudheer Gupta from Mandsour constituency (500,655), Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Vidisha seat (821,408), Alok Sharma from Bhopal (501,499), Vishnu Datt Sharma from Khajuraho constituency (541,229), and Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna (540,929).
- Dr Mahesh Sharma, Uttar Pradesh
BJP candidate Dr Mahesh Sharma from Gautam Buddha Nagar registered victory by a margin of 559,472 votes.
- Sribharat Mathukumili, Andhra Pradesh
TDP candidate Sribharat Mathukumili secured the Visakhapatnam seat by a huge margin of 504,247 votes.
- Abhishek Banerjee, West Bengal
Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Abhishek Banerjee emerged victorious in Diamond Harbour constituency by a huge margin of 710,930 votes.
2024 Lok Sabha election results
PM Modi declared victory for his NDA alliance on Tuesday in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“Today’s victory is the victory of the world’s largest democracy," the Indian leader told the crowd at his party’s headquarters in the evening, saying Indian voters had “shown immense faith” both in his party and his NDA coalition.
PM Modi’s win was only the second time an Indian premier has retained power for a third term after the first PM Jawaharlal Nehru. Before the 73-year-old leader came to power, India had had coalition governments for 30 years.
On the other hand, the Opposition INDIA bloc won a total of 232 seats.
The Congress party won 99 seats, improving its tally from 52 in the 2019 elections.
Among its key allies, the Samajwadi Party won 37 seats in northern Uttar Pradesh state in a major upset for the BJP; All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) bagged 29 seats in West Bengal state; and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) 22 seats in southern Tamil Nadu state.
In the face of the surprising drop in the BJP’s support, the Congress has said the election has been a “moral and political loss” for PM Modi.
“This is the public’s victory and a win for democracy,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters.
More than 640 million votes were cast in the marathon election held over a span of six weeks in the world’s largest democratic exercise.
With inputs from agencies
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