I.N.D.I.A still behind NDA but India not behind Modi this time

Nitish and Naidu to hold key in formation of Govt at Centre

Amit Chettupuzha

NEW DELHI: Markets have dumped the oft-repeated ‘Modi guarantee’ slogan after the prime minister failed to prove his political mettle at the polls, the results of which testified the reducing grip of the NDA front, led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the electorate.

The markets today (Tuesday) seemed to have regretted the gains it handed out on Monday following the much-hyped exit polls results, and decided to compensate for it by allowing a free fall on Tuesday that saw BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 plunge nearly 6 per cent, the steepest decline in more than four years. Thus the Tuesday’s fall has far dwarfed the gains the markets witnessed on Monday.

BSE Sensex and Nifty50, the Indian equity benchmark indices, experienced a ‘Tough Tuesday’ with significant losses on Dalal Street.

Both indices fell nearly six per cent, marking their worst decline in over four years. This market downturn was driven by the INDIA bloc performing better than expected in the Lok Sabha counting trends, suggesting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA might not secure a large victory.

The potential for a reduced mandate for the BJP-led NDA raised concerns about the immediate impact on economic reforms, causing the huge fall in the markets.

Market fluctuations may continue longer

The markets are likely to witness wide fluctuations in the coming days and weeks as the formation of a government in New Delhi may require more permutations and combinations in contrast to a situation where BJP would have clinched a majority without needing the support of other parties.

While the NDA bloc is poised to close the account with little above 290 seats, INDIA front will likely have about 235 seats in the new Lok Sabha, whereas about 18 seats are claimed by Others in the fray.

The NDA coalition failed to match its 2019 performance, or meet Modi’s ambitious 400-seat target.

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While addressing the people in a speech Tuesday evening even as the election results were still pouring in, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, claimed victory saying the BJP-led coalition will form the government for a third term.

The Opposition alliance spearheaded by Rahul Gandhi said voters had rejected Modi, and it’s scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss next steps.

More importantly, unlike in the last Lok Sabha elections, with the BJP alone failing to garner enough seats to form a government, the ‘all-powerful’ party and its leader, Narendra Modi, will have to seek the mercy of other coalition parties such as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (United) to form government.

Kerala an eye-opener

BJP, which has hitherto been dismissed as a nondescript party in the state, where the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by CPI (M) and United Democratic Front (UDF) led by Indian National Congress ruled the state in turns, has made an unexpected advance that saw one of its candidates, Suresh Gopi, bag the Thrissur seat with a comfortable majority.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a minister in the outgoing Central Cabinet and the BJP candidate who contested from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency against Shasi Tharoor, said: “This election has a message to the political parties in the state. The state has historically been seeing a bi-party election process, but the 2024 elections proved that now onwards, Kerala will witness a tri-party election process.”