Lok Sabha elections 2019: World’s largest-ever election begins. Here is what’s at stake
55-7 to 7-32 between 2009 and 2014. The Congress also lost ground to other parties such as the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh. Of the 91 seats,57 are in states where assembly elections have been held after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The stage is set for the grand battle for India as the staggered general elections kick off today with 91 Lok Sabha seats, spread across 18 states and two union territories, going to the polls in the first phase. A look at what is at stake.
Ninety-one out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats go to the polls today. In the 2014 elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 52 of these seats while the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) could manage only seven. This was a big reversal from the 2009 elections. The Congress-BJP tally in these 91 seats changed from55-7 to 7-32 between 2009 and 2014.
The Congress also lost ground to other parties such as the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh. Of the 91 seats,57 are in states where assembly elections have been held after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. An extrapolation of assembly results at the parliamentary constituency level shows that the BJP’s dominance vis-à-vis the Congress remained intact. To be sure, this math may be overturned in the coming election because of alliances. In Uttar Pradesh, for instance, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party are fighting the election together; they fought separately in 2014.
All told 1,279 candidates from 193 parties will square off in the first phase which will see 52 incumbent MPs trying to defend their seats.