“CONSTANT WORRY”
The BJP secured 240 seats in parliament, well down on the 303 from five years ago, and falling 32 seats of a majority.
In a remarkable turnaround, the main opposition Congress party won 99 seats, almost doubling its 2019 tally of 52.
“The country has said to Narendra Modi ‘We don’t want you’,” opposition leader Rahul Gandhi told reporters. “I was confident that the people of this country would give the right response.”
Commentators and exit polls had projected an overwhelming victory for Modi, who critics have accused of leading the jailing of opposition figures and trampling on the rights of India’s 200-million-plus Muslim community.
In a personal sting, Modi was re-elected to his constituency representing the Hindu holy city of Varanasi with a far lower margin of 152,300 votes – compared with nearly half a million votes five years ago.
Now dependent on coalition partners, the BJP will have to seek consensus to push its policies through parliament.
“The lurking possibility of them using their leverage, encouraged further by feelers from Congress and others in the opposition, is going to be a constant worry for BJP,” the Times of India reported.
Modi now has to “suffer the fate of working with an alliance partner … who could pull the plug at any time”, said Hartosh Singh Bal, the political editor of The Caravan magazine in New Delhi.
Among the independent lawmakers elected were two serving time in jail – firebrand Sikh separatist preacher Amritpal Singh, and Sheikh Abdul Rashid from Indian-administered Kashmir, who was arrested on charges of “terror funding” and money laundering in 2019.
Stocks slumped Tuesday on speculation the reduced majority would hamper the BJP’s ability to push through reforms.
Shares in the main listed unit of Adani Enterprises – owned by key Modi ally Gautam Adani – nosedived 25 per cent, before rebounding slightly.
