The Narendra Modi-led NDA coalition has reached the peak of popularity in India in just 10 months. On the other hand, the Rahul Gandhi-led India camp has suffered a major decline in popularity 10 months ago. This was revealed in a recent survey by ‘Mood of the Nation’ (MOTN), a joint initiative of India Today and C Voter. The agency released the survey data on Wednesday (February 12).
According to the survey, if there is a general election (Lok Sabha) in India now, then the BJP-led ‘National Democratic Front’ (NDA) can win 343 seats. The BJP is also likely to get a majority. On the other hand, the Congress-led Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (India) coalition had 232 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which could come down to 188 if elections are held now. In addition, if elections are held now, the NDA’s vote share could increase by 3 percentage points to 47 per cent. On the other hand, the percentage of votes received by the ‘India’ alliance may increase by just 1 percentage point to 41%.
The survey was conducted from January 2 to February 9 this year. Views of 1,25,123 people were taken in each Lok Sabha constituency across the country.
The total number of seats in the Lok Sabha of India is 545 (543 elected, 2 nominated). It needs 272 seats to form a government. In last year’s Lok Sabha elections, the NDA had won 292 seats. The BJP alone won 240 seats. The Congress, on the other hand, won 99 seats alone. But if elections are held now, the BJP alone can win 281 seats. The Congress alone can win 88 seats.
Last year, in the 2024 general elections, BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan was ‘400 times this time’. But they could not reach that goal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi failed to retain popularity among the common people. Modi-Amit Shah’s party failed to emerge as the single largest party. The ruling party at the Centre has to face the wrath of the opposition parties. Naturally, the BJP had to form the government for the third time at the Centre with Nitish Kumar’s ‘Janata Dal United’ (JDU) and Chandrababu Naidu’s ‘Telugu Desam Party’ (TDP). But in the last few months after the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and its alliance NDA made a great comeback in the assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi.
Even last week, the BJP formed the government with a single majority in the assembly elections in the country’s capital Delhi. The party won 48 of the 70 assembly seats in the state, while the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 22 seats. In this election, the Congress was virtually wiped out. Like the previous two elections, the century-old party Congress had to return empty-handed in this election.