Lok Sabha Election 2024:
The moment political parties have been eagerly anticipating is upon us. The Election Commission is set to hold a press conference at 3 PM today, possibly announcing the schedule for the nation's biggest electoral battle. With the announcement imminent, discussions are also focusing on the calculus of coalitions and the political muscle of parties in the Lok Sabha. Every party and coalition is claiming victory and the ability to form the government, but how much power does each party hold in each state? How different is the scene from the 2019 elections? These are the questions being asked.
What's the Coalition Calculus?
Primarily, three political blocs are visible before this election. One is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which includes the NDA allies; the second is the INDIA block, which comprises Congress along with various opposition parties. The third group consists of parties that are neither in the NDA nor the INDIA block, maintaining their distinct regional strengths.
Parties such as the BSP led by Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh, Mamata Banerjee's TMC in Bengal, the Left in Kerala and Bengal, Naveen Patnaik's BJD in Odisha, AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, CM Jagan's YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh, KCR's BRS in Telangana, and Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM, and AIUDF in Assam are among these.
Source: aajtak
Note: The BSP had won 10 seats in 2019, of which MP Danish Ali from Amroha has since been suspended from the party, and MP Ritesh Pandey from Ambedkarnagar has joined BJP.)
2019 vs. the current political scene in coalitions?
In comparison to the last elections in 2019, coalition dynamics are significantly different this time around. Several parties that were part of the opposition are now under the umbrella of the NDA. Parties like RLD under Jayant Chaudhary in UP, Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi's parties in Bihar were in the opposition block in 2019. TDP was also making its distinct stance then. This year, all of these are contesting under the NDA. Some parties had left the NDA but have now returned with their identity intact. Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP fall into this category. While Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are in the opposition INDIA block, Shinde and Ajit Pawar have entered the fray under the NDA alliance with their parties' symbols and names.
Source: aajtak
Strength of Parties in Different States:
