General elections were held in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the
16th Lok Sabha
Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 M ...
. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the
2019 elections
The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in coun ...
. Around 23.1 million or 2.7% of the total eligible voters were aged 18–19 years.
A total of 8,251 candidates contested the 543 elected
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...
seats.
The average election turnout over all nine phases was around 66.40%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections.
The results were declared on 16 May, 15 days before the 15th Lok Sabha completed its constitutional mandate on 31 May 2014. The counting exercise was held at 989 counting centres.
The
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...
(BJP) received 31% of the vote and won 282 seats, while its
National Democratic Alliance won a total of 336 seats. The BJP's vote share was the lowest by a party winning a majority of seats since independence, However, the governing coalition had the largest majority since the
1984 elections, and it was the first time since 1984 that a party had won enough seats to govern without the support of other parties.
In contrast, the result was the worst-ever performance by the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
(INC), which had ruled India for most of its post-independence history. The INC received 19.3% of the vote and won only 44 seats, with its wider alliance, the
United Progressive Alliance
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...
, winning a total of just 59.
In order to become the official opposition party in India, a party must have 55 seats; as a result, there was no
official opposition party.
Background
As per the requirements of the Indian Constitution,
elections to the Lok Sabha must be held at an interval of five years or whenever parliament is dissolved by the
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
. The
previous election, to the
15th Lok Sabha
Members of the 15th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2009 general election in India. It was dissolved on 18 May 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won 44 more seats than the previou ...
, was conducted in April–May 2009, and its term would have naturally expired on 31 May 2014. The election to the 16th Lok Sabha was organised and conducted by the
Election Commission of India (ECI) and was held in multiple phases, to better handle the large electoral base and security concerns.
Since the last general election in 2009, the
anti-corruption movement by
Anna Hazare, and other similar moves by
Baba Ramdev and
Arvind Kejriwal
Arvind Kejriwal (Hindi: ɾʋin̪d̪ ked͡ʒɾiːʋaːl born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician, former bureaucrat, and activist who is the 7th and current Chief Minister of Delhi since February 2015. Currently, he is the national co ...
(founder of
Aam Aadmi Party), gathered momentum and political interest. Kejriwal went on to form a separate political party, Aam Aadmi Party, in November 2012. The
2012 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*3–4 January ...
resulted in
Pranab Mukherjee
Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the India ...
of
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
becoming the president. Andhra politics was further shaken following the death of its
chief minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
,
Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. His son,
Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, then broke from the
INC
Inc. or inc may refer to:
* Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation
* ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine
* Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band
* Indian National Congress, a political party in India
* I ...
and founded the
YSR Congress Party
The Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP or YCP; ) is an Indian regional political party based in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Its president Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy serves as the state's chief minister. It is currently the fifth la ...
, taking several politicians with him.
The final session of parliament started on 6 February and ended on 21 February. Amongst the agenda in the final session was passing
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2013
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, commonly known as The Lokpal Act, is an anti-corruption Act of Indian Parliament in India which "seeks to provide for the establishment of the institution of Lokpal to inquire into allegations of corrupt ...
in tackling corruption and the creation of Telangana.
Organisation
Spending limit
The Cabinet of India revised the limit of election expenditure by a candidate for parliamentary constituencies to in bigger states and to in smaller states and all union territories except Delhi. This revision of the ceiling on the elections were attributed to the increase in the number of electors and polling stations as well as the increase in the cost inflation index.
Accessibility
Satyendra Singh, a doctor with a disability,
showed the lack of preparedness by the Election Commission of India (ECI) towards electors with disabilities through the
Right to Information Act
The Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of RTI Act, a ...
. The Chief Electoral Officer in Delhi, Vijay Dev then started a campaign on providing accessibility for the disabled, along with him. Singh conducted sensitisation workshops for election officers and helped in setting up a registration link for voters with disabilities to register to vote and provide their requirements.
Election dates
The
Chief Election Commissioner of India
The Chief Election Commissioner of India heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and state legislatures and of President and Vice-President. This power of th ...
(CEC),
V. S. Sampath
Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath (Tamil: வீரவல்லி சுந்தரம் சம்பத்) served as 18th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of the Election Commission of India from 2012 to 2015 . He succeeded S. Y. Quraishi as ...
, announced the polling schedule on 5 March. Voting was scheduled to be held in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May, and the results of the election were announced on 16 May. Simultaneous
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...
were held for the ''
Vidhan Sabha
The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...
'' of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana and Sikkim.
Campaign
Issues
Important issues during the campaign included high inflation, lack of jobs, economic slow down, corruption, security and terrorism, religious division and communalism, and infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water. In a survey by ''
Zee News
Zee News is an Indian Hindi-language news channel owned by Subhash Chandra's Essel Group. It launched on 27 August 1999 and is the flagship channel of the Zee Media Corporation.
The channel has been involved in several controversies and ha ...
'', inflation was indicated to be the main issue in the election.
Economy
''
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to:
People
* Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer
* Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian
* Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...
'' highlighted India's slowing economy amidst a record high
current account Current account or Current Account may refer to:
* Current account (balance of payments), a country's balance of trade, net of factor income and cash transfers
* Current account (banking)
A transaction account, also called a checking account, ch ...
deficit and a falling
rupee in summer 2013. It pointed out a lack of infrastructure investment and a government increasingly likely to give subsidies that the national finances cannot afford just before the election. Other points it mentioned were stagnant policymaking and an inefficient bureaucracy. The economy was the main issue in the campaign.
The lack of a clear mandate as a result of the election could lead to an increase in the price of gold in the country. Modi also brought up the issue of
farmer suicides that resulted from high debt and poor yield on their crops. Former Finance Minister
Yashwant Sinha
Yashwant Sinha (, born 6 November 1937) is an Indian administrator and politician. He served as the Minister of Finance from 1990 until 1991 under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and again from March 1998 to July 2002 under Prime Minister Atal B ...
criticised the incumbent Chidambaram in saying that he had a "habit that he will get a strong economy, and he will ruin it before he leaves... Shri Chidambaram will be remembered in history as a spoiler, as someone who specialises in sub-five per cent growth rate, for his hubris, arrogance".
Price rise
The price of onions, a staple in
Indian cuisine
Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to India. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally available spices, he ...
, faced a dramatic increase. In the lead up to the election,
consumer price inflation increased more than expected while, paradoxically,
industrial production fell by more than expected, causing a dilemma amid slowing growth. The price of salt was also indicative of general
food inflation.
Corruption
During the UPA-2 government, a number of scams came to public attention, deteriorating the image of the government among the common man. These scams included
coal scam
The Coal allocation scam, dubbed in media as Coalgate, is a major political scandal concerning the Indian government's allocation of the nation's coal deposits to public sector enterprise (PSEs) and private companies. In a draft report issued i ...
,
2G spectrum case,
AgustaWestland Chopper scam and
CWG scam.
Celebrity candidates
Celebrity candidates from non-political spheres were nominated in the election. These included:
Raj Babbar
Raj Babbar (born 23 June 1952) is an Indian Hindi and Punjabi film actor and politician belonging to Indian National Congress. three-time member of the Lok Sabha and a two-time member of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. He was the Pre ...
(INC),
Bhaichung Bhutia
Bhaichung Bhutia (born 15 December 1976), also spelled as Baichung Bhutia, is an Indian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Bhutia is considered as the torchbearer of Indian football in the international arena. He is often ...
(AITC),
Biswajit Chatterjee
Biswajit Chatterjee (born 14 December 1936), known mononymously as Biswajit, is an Indian actor, producer, director, singer and politician known for his work in Hindi and Bengali cinema.
Early career
After films in Calcutta including ''May ...
(AITC),
Sandhya Roy
Sandhya Roy is an Indian actress and politician. She is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She is the recipient of BFJA Award for three times, and one Filmfare Awards East best actress for '' Ganadevata''.
Roy made her cinematic debut wit ...
(AITC),
Smriti Irani (BJP),
Jaaved Jaaferi
Syed Jaaved Ahmed Jaaferi (born 4 December 1963) is an Indian actor, dancer, and comedian who has appeared in Hindi films and television shows. He is son of the comedian Jagdeep. He joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in March, 2014 and contested ...
(AAP),
Prakash Jha
Prakash Jha (born 27 February 1952) is an Indian film producer, actor, director and screenwriter, mostly known for his political and socio-political films such as “Hip Hip Hurray” (1984), '' Damul'' (1984), ''Mrityudand'' (1997), ''Gangaaj ...
(JD(U)),
Mohammad Kaif
Mohammad Kaif () (born 1 December 1980) is a former Indian cricketer, who played Tests and ODIs. He made it to the national team on the strength of his performances at the Under-19 level, where he captained the India national under-19 cricket ...
(INC),
Kamaal Rashid Khan
Mohammed Rashid Mohammed Iqbal Kamaal, better known as Kamaal Rashid Khan (born 1 January 1975; often referred to as KRK or Kamaal R Khan), is an Indian actor, producer and writer in Hindi and Bhojpuri cinema. He has produced or written most o ...
(SP),
Vinod Khanna
Vinod Khanna (6 October 1946 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is best known for his work in Hindi films; while also being a notable spiritual seeker. In Bollywood, he was the recipient of two Filmfare awa ...
(BJP),
Ravi Kishan
Ravi Kishan Shukla (; born 17 July 1969), popularly known as Ravi Kishan, is an Indian actor, politician, film producer and television personality. He currently serves as Member of parliament, Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur. His film works are predo ...
(INC),
Kirron Kher
Kirron Anupam Kher (also Kiran ''Indian Express'', 12 May 2002. or, Kiron born 14 June 1952) is an Indian politician; theatre, film and television actress; television personality; singer; entertainment producer; and a member of the Bharatiya Ja ...
(BJP),
Bappi Lahiri
Bappi Aparesh Lahiri (born Alokesh Aparesh Lahiri; 27 November 1952 – 15 February 2022), also known as Bappi Da was an Indian singer, composer and record producer. He popularised the use of synthesised disco music in Indian music industry and ...
(BJP),
Hema Malini
Hema Malini (born 16 October 1948) is an Indian actress, director, producer, and politician. She is primarily known for her work in Hindi films. Known for starring in both comic and dramatic roles, she is one of the most popular and successful ...
(BJP),
Mahesh Manjrekar
Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar (Marathi pronunciation: əɦeːʃ maːɲd͡zɾekəɾ born 16 August 1958) is an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, alongside Marathi, Telugu and Bhojpuri films. H ...
(MNS),
Bhagwant Mann
Bhagwant Singh Mann (born 17 October 1973) is an Indian politician and current Chief Minister of Punjab. He leads the cabinet ministry of Punjab and is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party. He is a former actor, comedian and satirist.
He previou ...
(AAP),
Nandan Nilekani
Nandan Mohanrao Nilekani (born 2 June 1955) is an Indian entrepreneur. He co-founded Infosys and is the non-executive chairman of Infosys replacing R Seshasayee and Ravi Venkatesan, who were the co-chairs of the board, on 24 August 2017. After t ...
(INC),
Gul Panag
Gul Panag (born Gulkirat Kaur Panag, 3 January 1979; Chandigarh, India) is an Indian actress, voice actress, model, and former beauty queen who competed in the Miss Universe pageant. Panag began her career in Bollywood with the 2003 film '' Dho ...
(AAP),
Jaya Prada (RLD),
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, , (born 29 January 1970) is an Indian politician, Olympic medallist, former shooting athlete and retired Indian Army officer. Rathore is a Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha from Jaipur Rural seat. ...
(BJP),
Paresh Rawal (BJP),
Rakhi Sawant
Rakhi Sawant (born Neeru Bheda; 25 November 1978) is an Indian dancer, model, actress and television talk show host, who has appeared in many Hindi and a few Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Telugu and Tamil films and was a contestant on the first ...
(RAP),
Indranil Sen
Indranil Biswas (born 19 October 1964) is an Indian mathematician. He is professor of mathematics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. He is known for his work in the areas of algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and ...
(AITC),
Moon Moon Sen
Moon Moon Sen, also credited as Moonmoon Sen (born Srimati Sen; 28 March 1954), is an Indian actress, known for her works in Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Marathi films. She eventually starred in Bollywood films. She ...
(AITC),
Vijay Kumar Singh
General Vijay Kumar Singh, (born 10 May 1950) is an Indian politician and a former four-star General in the Indian Army. He is the current Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Ministry of Civil Aviation in th ...
(BJP),
Shatrughan Sinha
Shatrughan Prasad Sinha (born 9 December 1945) is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he was elected as Member of Parliam ...
(BJP),
P. C. Sorcar Jr.
P. C. Sorcar Jr. (formal name Prodip Chandra Sorcar; born 31 July 1946) is an Indian magician based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is the second son of Indian magician P. C. Sorcar. He is also the recipient of Merlin Award in Magic.
He ho ...
(BJP),
Babul Supriyo (BJP),
Manoj Tiwari (BJP),
Innocent Vincent
Innocent Vareed Thekkethala (born 28 February 1948) is an Indian actor and politician. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema in addition to Hindi, English, Tamil, and Kannada films, mostly in comedic roles. He has acted in more than 750 ...
(
LDF-IND),
Nagma
Nagma Arvind Morarji (born Nandita Arvind Morarji on 25 December 1974) is an Indian politician and former actress. She was a popular lead actress in the 1990s. She made her cinematic debut in the film '' Baaghi'' opposite Salman Khan in 1990. ...
(INC),
Dev (AITC), and
Siddhanta Mahapatra
Siddhanta Mahapatra ( od, ସିଦ୍ଧାନ୍ତ ମହାପାତ୍ର; born 4 May 1966), known mononymously as Munna Bhai, is an Indian actor, television personality and politician who works predominantly in Odia films.
Early and Pe ...
, (BJD).
Parties and alliances
National Democratic Alliance
The constituents of the
National Democratic Alliance and the seats they contested and won are shown at the right in the table:
The NDA garnered an overwhelming number of 336 seats in this election. This has propelled it to form the government in the country.
Bharatiya Janata Party
;Organisation
Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...
was chosen to lead the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...
's campaign after a party conclave in Goa. This came amid controversy as
L. K. Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
opposed the decision and resigned from his party posts, only to later rescind his resignation.
Murli Manohar Joshi and
Sushma Swaraj
Sushma Swaraj () (''née'' Sharma; 14 February 1952 – 6 August 2019) was an Indian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as the Minister of External Affairs of India in the first Narendra Modi government from 2014 to 2019. She is only ...
were part of the team for the campaign.
Rajnath Singh
Rajnath Singh (; born 10 July 1951) is an Indian politician serving as the Defence Minister of India. He is currently the Deputy Leader of the House Lok Sabha. He is the former President of Bharatiya Janata Party. He has previously served as ...
,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani were the mentors for the BJP's campaign.
A 12-member committee, led by Modi, was appointed at the Goa conclave which included
M. Venkaiah Naidu
Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1 July 1949) is an Indian politician who served as the 13th vice president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first Indian vice president born in independent India. He has also served as the Ministry of Housin ...
,
Nitin Gadkari
Nitin Jairam Gadkari (; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra who is the current Minister for Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India. He is also the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways cu ...
, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Shivraj Singh Chouhan (born 5 March 1959), is an Indian politician and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the 17th and current Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, having been elected to the same position 3 times in the past, and a Member ...
, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister
Raman Singh
Dr. Raman Singh (born 15 October 1952) is an Indian politician and Former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. Currently, he is the National Vice-President of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is also an ayurvedic practitioner. He is also the longest s ...
and Goa Chief Minister
Manohar Parrikar
Manohar Parrikar (born Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar; 13 December 1955 – 17 March 2019) was an Indian politician and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party who served as Chief Minister of Goa from 14 March 2017 until his death. Previous ...
.
[
;Key leader's constituencies
Modi contested the election from ]Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
in Uttar Pradesh and Vadodara
Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capita ...
in Gujarat. In Varanasi, the sizeable Muslim minority population was viewed by the media as an important voter target and the BJP's minority cell leader Salim Mohommad took part in campaigning. Advani wanted to contest from Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
but later agreed to contest again from his incumbent seat Gandhinagar
Gandhinagar (, ) is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial corridor between Delhi, the political capital of India, and Mum ...
. He also rejected a proposal to be appointed to the Rajya Sabha in favour of running in the election. Advani was given the Gandhinagar seat because Modi wanted him to contest from Gujarat, according to Rajnath Singh.
Arun Jaitley contested for the ''Lok Sabha'' for the first time (having previously been a ''Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
'' member) from Amritsar against former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh
Captain Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942), is an Indian politician, military historian, former royal and Indian Army veteran who served as the 15th Chief Minister of Punjab. A former Member of the Legislative Assembly, Punjab and Member ...
. The move was controversial as incumbent MP from Amritsar Navjot Singh Sidhu
Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian National Congress politician, television personality and retired international cricketer. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of To ...
was unhappy in not being allocated the constituency. Yet he said that as Jaitley was his "guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...
" he would accept the decision, but would not run from any other constituency. The reason for not allocating the ticket to Sidhu was said to be because of his spat with the Shiromani Akali Dal
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are man ...
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal
Parkash Singh Badal ( pa, ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਾਦਲ; born 8 December 1927) is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Punjab state from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017. He ...
and party President Sukhbir Singh Badal, as well as other BJP personnel. Jaswant Singh
Major Jaswant Singh (; 3 January 193827 September 2020) was an officer of the Indian Army and an Indian Cabinet Minister. He was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and was one of India's longest serving parliamen ...
was denied nomination from Barmer constituency so he decided instead to contest the seat as an independent.
;Campaign and Issues
The BJP released its manifesto on 7 April 2014. The party promised to set up a Price Stabilization Fund and to evolve a single 'National Agriculture Market' to check price rise and go for e-Governance, policy-driven governance and simplification of the tax regime to prevent corruption. It wanted to encourage labour-intensive manufacturing, focus on traditional employment bases of agriculture, the upgrade of infrastructure and housing and self-employment opportunities for job creation. Harnessing satellite technology; setting up National Optical-Fibre Network up to the village level; Diamond Quadrilateral project – of High Speed Train network were among several other things that the party promised.
The Himachal Pradesh BJP attacked the UPA's "one rank, one pension" scheme as an "election stunt," according to the convenor of the BJP's ex-servicemen cell, Brigadier (Retired) Lal Chand Jaswal. The move followed the BJP raising the issue in the previous years and Modi's announcement at an ex-servicemen's rally at Rewari on 15 September 2013 and at Sujanpur
Sujanpur is a city and municipal council in the Pathankot district of the India, Indian state of Punjab. It is 06 km from Pathankot towards Jammu on Jalandhar-Jammu-Amritsar National Highway (NH-1A). It is situated near the banks of Ravi ...
on 17 February. Modi also criticised the INC and Rahul Gandhi for giving a ticket to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan
Ashokrao Shankarrao Chavan (born 28 October 1958) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. He is one of the most influential leaders of Indian National Congress in Maharashtra. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra state from 8 D ...
despite his indictment in the Adarsh Housing Society scam
The Adarsh Housing Society is a 31-story building constructed on prime real estate in Colaba, Mumbai, for the welfare of war widows and personnel of India's Ministry of Defence. Over a period of several years, politicians, bureaucrats and milit ...
in Mumbai. He further criticised Gandhi's comments about his governance of Gujarat at rally in Bijapur. At a rally in Gurgaon, Haryana, part of the wider National Capital Region, Modi said: "People gave ruling Congress 60 years, I just need 60 months to prove that the BJP is the best option for India" and alleged that the INC was protecting Robert Vadra
Robert Vadra (born 18 April 1969) is an Indian businessman, entrepreneur and the husband of Priyanka Gandhi. He is the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi and the brother-in-law of Rahul Gandhi.
Early life and family
Robert Vadra was born to Rajendra a ...
, the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, after he was said to have "sold farmers land" and made money. "Robert Vadra's empty bank account was credited with $8.30m (Rs 500 million) in just three months. BJP wants answers". He also criticised the INC's Nandan Nilekani as he had "squandered crores of rupees in giving a unique identity (Aadhaar
Aadhaar ( hi, आधार, ādhār, lit=base, foundation, bn, আধার) is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by the citizens of India and resident foreign nationals who have spent over 182 days in twelve ...
) to millions of people, which even the Supreme Court questioned, as it did not address the security concerns".
Amongst the social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
, individuals came up with satirical takes on sports, movies (in Hindi and English) and songs, amongst other things, in support of the BJP campaign slogan that were premised on "''Aab ki baar, Modi sarkar''" ( his_time,_[we_will_have_aModi_government.html" ;"title="e_will_have_a.html" ;"title="his time, [we will have a">his time, [we will have aModi government">e_will_have_a.html" ;"title="his time, [we will have a">his time, [we will have aModi government. Modi was noted for focusing, in his rallies across the country, on the 23 million first-time come-of-age voters. By the last day of campaigning on 10 May, Narendra Modi had undertaken the largest mass outreach in India's electoral history by travelling about 300,000 km for 437 public meetings in 25 states and 1350 innovative 3D rallies according to the BJP.
In regards to foreign relations of India, Modi in a rally in Arunachal Pradesh, a state which borders China with a history of border disputes, swore to protect the country and criticised "Chinese expansionism". He also highlighted the importance of diplomats discussing issues like trade facilitation and promoting Indian business abroad.
Others
;Lok Janshakti Party
Lok Janshakti Party
The Lok Janshakti Party ( LJP, "People’s Manpower Party") was a state political party mainly based in the state of Bihar, India. The party was formed in 2000 when Ram Vilas Paswan split from Janata Dal. The party had a considerable followin ...
leader Ram Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan (5 July 19468 October 2020) was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the first and second Modi ministries. Paswan was also the president of the Lok Jansh ...
announced on 30 January that the LJP, RJD and INC will jointly contest the election from Bihar's constituencies. He later announced on 27 February that he will instead join the NDA. LJP contested polls with the BJP and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) on 40 seats with 30 seats for BJP, three seats for RLSP and seven seats for LJP. LJP and RLSP won all the seats allotted to them with BJP winning 22 seats. The election was seen by many BJP leaders as a show of strength after fallout with JD(U). After the election results, Nitish Kumar was forced to resign from the post of Chief Minister after being marginalized to just 2 seats.
;Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam
Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam
The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (; DMDK) is an Indian regional political party in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is a Dravidian party founded by the former leader of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Vijayakant (Captai ...
(DMDK), led by Tamil film actor Vijayakanth
Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Leg ...
joined the NDA on 26 February.
;Lok Satta Party
On 10 April, while campaigning in Telangana, Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' ( Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for l ...
of the Lok Satta Party
Lok Satta is a classical liberal political party in India, founded by Nagabhairava Jaya Prakash Narayana, a former I.A.S. officer and renowned activist from Andhra Pradesh. Since 1996, the Lok Satta Movement functioned as a non-governmental ...
stated that while his party had a few differences of opinion with the BJP manifesto, they had decided to support the NDA in the "national interest". On the other hand, Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' ( Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for l ...
contested from the Malkajgiri
Malkajgiri also known as Mallikarjuna Giri (Anicent Name) is a suburb of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is located in Medchal–Malkajgiri district and also Sub-District in Medchal District is the headquarters of Malkajgiri mandal in Malkajgi ...
. Malkajgiri had eligible voters in the election making it the largest parliamentary constituency of the country in terms of number of voters.
;Shiv Sena, Swabhimani Paksha and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha
The Swabhimani Paksha (SWP) a political party of Swabhimani Shetkari Saghtana (SSS) joined the Shiv Sena-BJP-Republican Party of India (A)
The Republican Party of India (Athawale) ( RPI(A)) is a political party in India. The party is a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by B. R. Ambedkar. The president of the pa ...
alliance in February. The SSS, which represents the interests of farmers in western Maharashtra was offered two seats – Madha in Solapur, where NCP leader Sharad Pawar sits, and Hathkanangale, the seat of SSS leader Raju Shetti. Shetti also sought Baramati but this was rejected by the Shiv Sena and BJP, who decided to leave a seat each from their quotas of 22 and 26 to accommodate SSS. Rashtriya Samaj Paksha
Rashtriya Samaj Paksha ("National Society Party") is an Indian political party based in Maharashtra, founded in 2003. Mahadev Jankar was the founder and President of the party. Prabodhankar Govindram Shurnar from Nanded has been working as a ...
also joined the alliance in January. In addition to the aforementioned four parties that were contesting from Maharashtra, RSP was also in the alliance.
;Shiromani Akali Dal
Shiromani Akali Dal
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are man ...
contested 10 out of 13 seats in Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
.
United Progressive Alliance
The constituents of the United Progressive Alliance
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...
and the seats they contested and won are shown at the right in the table:
This election turned out to be an unprecedented disaster for the UPA as they garnered the lowest number of seats in their history.
In March, the INC, RJD and NCP announced that they would jointly contest in Bihar. The INC contested 12 seats, NCP fought on 1 seat and the RJD, being a regional party, would seek the rest of 27 seats.
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
had announced, on the fourth anniversary of the second United Progressive Alliance
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...
government, that its campaign for the election would be led by incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, INC chairperson Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president o ...
. Rahul Gandhi was appointed to head a six-member committee to formulate and implement alliances, the party manifesto and general publicity for the election.
In response to sagging opinion poll numbers for the general election, the INC sought to fast-track a decision on separating Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, create a coalition government with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( lit. ''Jharkhand Liberation Front''; JMM) is a State political party in the Indian state of Jharkhand which was founded by Binod Bihari Mahato. It has one seat in the 17th Lok Sabha. Shibu Soren is the president of t ...
and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Jharkhand, sought to take credit for the Food Security Bill
The National Food Security Act 2013, also known as Right to Food Act, is an Indian Act of Parliament which aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two thirds of the country's 1.2 billion people. It was signed into law on 12 Sep ...
and passing Land Acquisition Bill.
;Prime Minister candidate
Incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that he would not return to his role should the INC get a majority or plurality. Rahul Gandhi told ''Dainik Bhaskar
''Dainik Bhaskar ''is India's largest Hindi-language daily newspaper owned by the Dainik Bhaskar Group. According to Audit Bureau of Circulations, it is ranked 3rd in the world by circulation and is the largest newspaper in India by circula ...
'' that he was "ready to take charge" of any responsibility the party gave him and he added that: "My focus for India is a long term vision, where all Indians are treated with equality, respect and are given equal opportunities." At the party meeting it was decided not to name a prime ministerial candidate amid fears it would turn the election into a presidential one. This was criticised by the BJP. Gandhi would instead lead the party's campaign. He also called the election a turning point. Sonia Gandhi then said that the party will face upcoming challenges and the election with a "lot of determination;" she added that the election would be a battle for India. "Divisive forces are stretching social fabric to breaking point. Opposition's way is to spread disharmony. There's a face hidden behind the mask of compassion."
;Rahul Gandhi
In January, in an interview, Gandhi admitted that some Congress members may have been involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots
The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, also known as the 1984 Sikh Massacre, was a series of organised pogroms against Sikhs in India following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Government estimates project that about 2,800 Sikhs ...
and further stated that Modi's government was responsible for pushing the 2002 riots while the Congress government in 1984 tried to stop the anti Sikh riots. Fellow UPA member, Praful Patel
Praful Manoharbhai Patel (born 17 February 1957) is an Indian Nationalist Congress Party politician, industrialist and sports administrator.
He was the president of India's association football governing body the All India Football Federati ...
said that the 2002 matter should be put to rest. As Gandhi was reported to have sought an early declaration of the party's candidates, the INC was scheduled to hold its first meeting of the central election committee on 13 February to finalise all their candidates by the end of the month. Similarly, the screening committees for several unnamed part of the country had already occurred so as to shortlist the candidates. On 8 March, its list of 194 candidates was announced, including 35% of candidates that were below the age of 50 years. The INC was reported to be concerned by the possibility of a reduced mandate in Gandhi's seat of Amethi (Lok Sabha constituency) amidst an unusual challenge by his high-profile competitor, the BJP's Smriti Irani. It even led to his mother, Sonia
Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to:
People
* Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya)
:* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films
:* Sonia ...
, campaigning there for the first time in 10 years.
;Opinion polls
The INC dismissed the opinion polls pointing to a NDA plurality as misleading and partisan. In its manifesto the party promised "inclusive growth Inclusive growth is economic growth that raises standards of livings for broad swaths of a population. Proponents for inclusive growth warn that inequitable growth may have adverse political outcomes.
The definition of inclusive growth implies dir ...
" and that it would initiate a raft of welfare schemes, including a right to healthcare for all and pensions for the aged and disabled. Manmohan Singh, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi's INC campaigning included scheduled stops in Odisha and, on 20 April, in Maharashtra prior to the third phase. Rahul Gandhi claimed in a rally in Chhattisgarh that Modi would "divide the nation into pieces, and make people fight against each other."
;Media
During the election, former prime ministerial aide Sanjaya Baru published " The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh" in which he criticised Singh as not being fully in charge of his government in having to compete with the dynastic INC leader, Sonia Gandhi, for influence within his own cabinet. Singh's office retorted in saying it is "smacks of fiction and coloured views of a former adviser." After Baru said "it is no secret that Sonia Gandhi was the super prime minister," Priyanka Vadra replied "I think Manmohan Singh ji is the super PM."
Others
;Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
Minister for New and Renewable Energy and Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) is a regional political party in the Indian union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Founded as the ''All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference'' by Sheikh Abdullah and Chaudhry Ghulam A ...
chairman Farooq Abdullah
Farooq Abdullah (born 21 October 1937) is an Indian politician who was Ex. President of Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. He has served as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions since 1982, and as the union minister f ...
, controversially, told a rally in Srinagar that in regards to Modi becoming prime minister "if it happens then Kashmir will not remain a part of India. I say it publicly. Kashmiris will not accept a communal person". He added before going to a scheduled rally in Magam
Magam is a tehsil in central Kashmir's Beerwah sub-district. It is also a town, notified area committee, and a block in Budgam district in the Indian administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is away from sub-district headqua ...
that "those who vote for Modi should drown themselves in sea".
;Nationalist Congress Party
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was in alliance with the INC in the states of Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
;Rashtriya Janata Dal
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav said of the BJP's ruling chances that "Modi and Advani can never become the prime minister in their lifetime. Secular forces in this country would never allow the saffron outfit to come to power". In relation to the INC's Rahul Gandhi he said that Gandhi wants to bring change to the country; he added in relation to Digvijay Singh that he was a "good man".
;Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( lit. ''Jharkhand Liberation Front''; JMM) is a State political party in the Indian state of Jharkhand which was founded by Binod Bihari Mahato. It has one seat in the 17th Lok Sabha. Shibu Soren is the president of t ...
(JMM) contested polls in alliance with INC and RJD in Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...
. JMM and INC contested in four and ten seats each, respectively. JMM leader Shibu Soren
Shibu Soren ( Santali: ᱥᱤᱵᱩ ᱥᱚᱨᱮᱱ) (born 11 January 1944) is an Indian politician who thrice served as Chief Minister of Jharkhand, first in 2005 for 10 days (2 March to 12 March), then from 2008 to 2009 and again from 2009 to ...
will run from Dumka
Dumka ( Santali: ᱫᱩᱢᱠᱟᱹ), the headquarters of the Dumka district and Santhal Pargana region, is a city in the state of Jharkhand, India. It was made the headquarters of the Santhal Pargana region, which was carved out of the Bh ...
, while the other three party's seats could come from Rajmahal, Giridih and the purpose-built city of Jamshedpur.
Left parties
;Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...
declared their campaign slogan as "Reject Congress, Defeat BJP." On 3 April, the party published its fourth list of candidates for a total of 94 candidates.
In West Bengal, CPI (M) contested as part of the Left Front. 32 out of the 42 Left Front candidates in West Bengal came from the CPI (M), while 20 of its candidates were running for the first time. In Kerala, the CPI (M) contested as a constituent of the Left Democratic Front
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is an alliance of left-wing political parties in the state of Kerala, India. It is the current ruling political alliance of Kerala, since 2016. It is one of the two major political alliances in Kerala, the oth ...
. In the list of the 15 CPI (M) candidates in Kerala released in mid-March, four were incumbent ''Lok Sabha'' members and five others were independents. The Kollam seat was allocated to M. A. Baby after the RSP left the LDF and joined the United Democratic Front.
In Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Odisha and Tamil Nadu, the CPI (M) made an electoral pact with the CPI and other left parties. In Andhra Pradesh, however, no agreement could be reached between the CPI (M) and the CPI due to differences on the Telangana issue; CPI (M) opposed bifurcation, while the CPI supported creating Telangana. In Telangana region, CPI contested one seat (in alliance with Indian National Congress), while CPI (M) contested two seats.
Other parties
;Aam Aadmi Party
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), formed in 2012, contested 432 seats and won 4 seats. The party's manifesto focused on anti-corruption measures. Earlier in 2013, the party had made an impressive electoral debut by winning the second highest number of seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections. After forming a short-lived minority government in Delhi, AAP was seen as a major challenger to the other political parties. However, the party lost deposits on 413 seats, surpassing the record of Doordarshi Party
The Doordarshi Party (Hindi: दूरदर्शी; also written as ''Door Darshi Party'') was a political party in India. It was founded in Ahmedabad on 24 March 1980 by religious leader Baba Jai Gurudev on a platform of social reform and sp ...
, which had lost deposit on 321 seats in 1991. AAP's leader Arvind Kejriwal
Arvind Kejriwal (Hindi: ɾʋin̪d̪ ked͡ʒɾiːʋaːl born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician, former bureaucrat, and activist who is the 7th and current Chief Minister of Delhi since February 2015. Currently, he is the national co ...
unsuccessfully contested against the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
. Its spokesperson Prashant Bhushan Prashant or Prasant is a common male name in South Asia. It is derived from the word "shanth" which means patience, calm, quiet, or tranquil.
People with the given name
* Prashant Bose - Indian politician
* Prashant Bhushan - Indian lawyer, ...
argued that AAP's national debut performance was better than that of the winning party BJP in its first national elections in 1984.
;All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by the former chief mi ...
(AIADMK) opted not to join any alliance and contested all seats in the state of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
and the union territory of Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to:
* Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India
** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry t ...
on its own. Party General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa told a March rally that she would modernise the armed forces by enhancing their capabilities so that they were on par with the superpowers. In saying so, she criticised the UPA's governance, including its economic, diplomatic, and defence policies, adding that the modernization of the armed forces was hindered by the steady curtailment of its funding. The party won an unprecedented 37 out of the 40 parliamentary constituencies it contested and emerged as the third largest party in the 16th Lok Sabha
Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 M ...
of the Indian Parliament
The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...
. It was a massive victory that no other regional political party had ever achieved in the history of general elections.
;All India Forward Bloc
On 21 March, the All India Forward Bloc released its first list of candidates that covered 38 seats in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Odisha, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Delhi. According to the party's Secretary Debabrata Biswas
Debabrata Biswas (also known as George Biswas and George-''da''; 22 August 1911 – 18 August 1980), was an Indian Rabindra Sangeet singer.
Early life
Biswas was born in 1911 in Barisal and then later came to Kishoreganj of Mymensingh distri ...
the main objective of the party was "to strengthen and unite the Left, democratic and secular forces to achieve an alternative policy for reconstruction of the country." In West Bengal the party contested the election as part of the Left Front. To defend the two West Bengal seats that it won in 2009, the party decided to field incumbent MP Narahari Mahato
Narahari Mahato is an Indian politician from Bharatiya Janata Party. He was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha from the Purulia constituency of West Bengal and was a member of the All India Forward Bloc political party.
Education and background
Mah ...
in the Purulia seat and a new candidate in the Cooch Behar seat.
;Bahujan Samaj Party
On 19 March, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati
Kumari Mayawati (born 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician. She has served four separate terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which focuses on a platform of social cha ...
declared that the party would contest the election on its own and fielded candidates in all 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati was confident that the BSP would seek a mandate to form a government with support of secular parties. The party secured the third highest vote share in the Country and yet did not win a single seat.
;Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation
At a press conference held on 10 March, General Secretary of the party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featur ...
Dipankar Bhattacharya said his party would field 85 candidates in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jharkhand and Puducherry.
;Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) opted not to join an UPA pre-poll alliance and contested all seats in Tamil Nadu with its own regional alliance. Party leader Karunanidhi announced Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) with local parties like VCK, MMK, IUML and Puthiya Tamizhagam. DMK was not able to secure even a single seat throughout the country.
;Janata Dal (United)
The media speculated that Modi still had a chance of gaining in Bihar at the expense of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal
Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...
. Whilst the BJP were in coalition with JD(U), Modi was not allowed to speak at rallies in the party by mutual understanding and was only allowed for special events such as a funeral or party conclave, even Modi's flood relief aid to Bihar was termed communal. Bihar was seen as test case for Modi's popularity if the BJP could increase its tally at the expense of the JD(U). There was also speculation that Lalu Prasad Yadav
Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parlia ...
could make a relative comeback after the 2010 provincial election if he is not convicted over the fodder scam
The Fodder Scam was a corruption scandal that involved the embezzlement of about from the government treasury of the north Indian state of Bihar. . It also suggested that this would be an eager race as it could determine if Kumar's decision to leave the NDA in June 2013 was prudent and if he has any national political scope left; while for Modi it would give crucial seats to the BJP and be able to attract potential allies as Bihar is largely based on caste politics. In January 2014, Kumar referred to Gandhi's stand against corruption as a "farce" after hearing of a meeting between Gandhi and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav despite Yadav being out on bail, after being convicted in the fodder scam. He termed their alliance as "natural" and stated that them coming together was no surprise.
;Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
The Raj Thackeray
Raj Shrikant Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: aːd͡ʒ ʈʰaːkɾeː born Swaraj Shrikant Thackeray; 14 June 1968) is an Indian politician and the founding chairperson of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a regional political party. Raj wa ...
-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) announced its first list of seven candidates. Six of them contested against candidates of Shiv Sena. The party, however, also supported Modi's prime ministerial candidature. The move read as an implicit acceptance of the BJP's Nitin Gadkari's call not to contest against the NDA and to support its own candidates.
;Nav Bharat Democratic Party
Nav Bharat Democratic stepped into the political arena with 9 candidates spread across Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The party was established by RK Misra.
;Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialist figure and the founder of the Samajwadi Party. In the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three terms as ...
claimed that the Third Front government will be formed in the center with the help of his party. To counter the "Modi-effect" on other constituencies near Varanasi, Yadav decided to contest from Azamgarh and Mainpuri. The party decided not to field any candidates against the INC's Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi from Rai Bariely and Amethi, respectively, in response to the INC's decision not to field any candidates against Mulayam Singh Yadav and Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri and Kannauj, respectively.
;Sikkim Democratic Front
On 10 March, the Sikkim Democratic Front
Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Sikkim. It was the ruling party in Sikkim from 12 December 1994 to 23 May 2019.
History
The party was founded by Pawan Kumar Chamling in 1993. It has ruled th ...
declared that its incumbent MP, Prem Das Rai
Prem Das Rai (born 31 July 1954) is an Indian politician from the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) party. Rai was a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) from the Sikkim constituency of Sikkim, India, first elected in 2009 election and re-elected in ...
, would run for re-election. The party also released a list of 32 candidates for the 2014 Sikkim Legislative Assembly election
The election was held on 12 April 2014 for 7th assembly of Sikkim, the northeastern state of India. It elected 32 members of Sikkim Legislative Assembly.
Background
Pawan Chamling led SDF had already formed the previous four governments in S ...
that will be held simultaneously with the election.
;All India Trinamool Congress
All India Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee
Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 20 ...
declared that the party would contest all 42 seats in West Bengal by itself, making this the first occurrence of the party contesting a general election in West Bengal without an alliance with either of the two largest parties, BJP and INC. Banerjee told a rally in Cooch Behar district
Cooch Behar district () is a district of Indian state of West Bengal.
Formerly part of the Kamarupa kingdom, the area became the heart of the Kamata Kingdom in the 12th century. During the British Raj, the district was known as Cooch Behar st ...
, near the international border with Bangladesh, that she would take up the issue of the border enclaves upon ascertaining the views of the local people living in the adversely possessed areas. She further noted that she had opposed the central government's agreement in 2011 over the Teesta treaty of water-sharing between the two countries on the grounds of receding waters affecting drinking water availability.
;YSR Congress Party
Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy's YSR Congress Party
The Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP or YCP; ) is an Indian regional political party based in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Its president Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy serves as the state's chief minister. It is currently the fifth la ...
fielded candidates across Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
(Rayalaseema & Coastal Andhra) and some districts of Telangana. The party fielded several bureaucrats, businessmen and relatives of politicians for Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
(Rayalaseema & Coastal Andhra), including D. Kishore Rao, the former secretary of the Gujarat Human Rights Commission. In a statement in March, Reddy stated that he would ally himself with whoever would win the election.
Third Front
The constituents of the Third Front and the seats they contested and won are shown at the right in the table:
Fourteen political parties including the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party, All India Forward Bloc, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by the former chief mi ...
, Janata Dal
Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...
, Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal
The Biju Janata Dal (; BJD) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha founded and led by Naveen Patnaik, the current Chief Minister of Odisha and the son of former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik, after whom the party ...
, Nationalist Congress Party
The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...
, Janata Dal
Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...
, Naga People's Front
The Naga People's Front (NPF) is a regional political party in Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh . It headed the Nagaland government with the Bharatiya Janata Party, as part of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland from 2003 to 2018. NP ...
, Sikkim Democratic Front
Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Sikkim. It was the ruling party in Sikkim from 12 December 1994 to 23 May 2019.
History
The party was founded by Pawan Kumar Chamling in 1993. It has ruled th ...
, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh
The Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (IAST: Bhāripa Bahujana Mahāsaṅgha; BBM) was an Indian political party founded by Prakash Ambedkar on 4 July 1994. The party was a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and had its roots in the Sched ...
participated in a convention of the parties not in alliance with the NDA nor UPA, which was held on 30 October 2013. On 5 February 11 parties announced that they would work as one bloc on a "common agenda" in parliament. These included the CPI(M), CPI, RSP, AIFB, Samajwadi Party, JD(U), AIADMK, AGP, JVM
A Java virtual machine (JVM) is a virtual machine that enables a computer to run Java programs as well as programs written in other languages that are also compiled to Java bytecode. The JVM is detailed by a specification that formally describes ...
, JD(S) and BJD. However, there was speculation that the AGP and BJD were still in preparatory talks to re-join the NDA. A consensus on a prime ministerial candidate, however, was not achieved. But, they contested against each other in many contituencies.
Though CPI(M) has sought to build what it terms a "secular and democratic alternative" to the INC and BJP, general secretary Prakash Karat
Prakash Karat (born 7 February 1948) is an Indian Communist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 2005 to 2015.
Education and early career
Prakash Karat was born in Letpadan, Burma on 7 Februar ...
discarded the notion that these moves would result in a Third Front electoral alliance. He also suggested a possible Third Front would only emerge after the election.
Opinion polls
Opinion polls generally showed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to be the front runner in the election with the emergence of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) as the single largest party.
Exit polls
The Election Commission of India banned the publication of all exit polls starting 48 hours before Phase 1 of the election until the end of Phase 9. This was intended to prevent exit polls from earlier phases affecting voter decisions in later phases. The ban ended after the close of Phase 9 voting at 6:30pm IST on 12 May 2014.
Controversies
During the course of the campaign, several controversies arose with parties being accused by one another and the Election Commission of India of violating Election Commission of India's Model Code of Conduct Election Commission of India's Model Code of Conduct in Hindi achar sanchita is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for the conduct of political parties and candidates during elections mainly with respect to speeches, poll ...
that is in force during the election.
In the run-up to the election the media in India
The Indian media consists of several different types of communications of mass media: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based Websites/portals. Indian media was active since the late 18th century. The print media st ...
was criticised for its establishment ties between family owners and political parties. It caused self-censorship and editorial dismissals at certain media outlets.
''India Today
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new o ...
'' temporarily suspended its CVoter
Centre for Voting Opinion & Trends in Election Research, or CVoter, is an Indian international polling agency headquartered in Delhi, India.
History
Yashwant Deshmukh is the director and founding editor of CVoter.
Clients
CVoter India states ...
opinion poll in late February after a News Express sting operation suggesting Polling Agencies like Ipsos and CVoter fudged the numbers to show BJP candidate Narendra Modi in the lead. However, with the final results matching the Modi landslide projected by the polls; the unsubstantiated charges were proved to be politically motivated. The 2014 elections confirmed the accuracy of the Election Polling in India.
Voting
In total there were 1.4 million electronic voting machine
An electronic voting machine is a voting machine based on electronics.
Two main technologies exist: '' optical scanning'' and '' direct recording'' (DRE).
Optical scanning
In an optical scan voting system, or marksense, each voter's choices ...
s in 930,000 voting centres. The voter-verified paper audit trail
Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verified paper record (VPR) is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow ...
(VVPAT) system which enables EVM to record each vote cast by generating the EVM slip, was introduced in 8 constituencies of Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
, Gandhinagar
Gandhinagar (, ) is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial corridor between Delhi, the political capital of India, and Mum ...
, Bangalore South
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
, Chennai Central
Chennai Central (station code: MAS, short for ''Madras''), officially known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway ...
, Jadavpur
Jadavpur is a southern neighbourhood of Kolkata in the district of Kolkata of West Bengal, India. Jadavpur is one of the important junctions in South Kolkata. Jadavpur University and a number of research institutes of national and internation ...
, Raipur
Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Ch ...
, Patna Sahib
Patna City, popularly known as Patna Saheb or Patna Sahib, is a city and one of the 6 Sub-divisions (Tehsil) in Patna district, Bihar, India. Patna City is an old area of Patna. Patna City history belongs to Patliputra. It is regarded as ve ...
and Mizoram
Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...
as a pilot project. Also, Braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille disp ...
ballot sheets for the blind were arranged at polling stations. The scale of the election required 1.1 million of civil servants and 5.5 million civilian employees to handle the election. It was the first election that had the " none of the above" option and allowed Non-Resident Indians to vote; though only in India. Security was increased during the election, particularly as the Communist Party of India (Maoist)
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a Marxist–Leninist–Maoist banned communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the "semi-colonial and semi-feudal Indian state" through protracted people' ...
(CPI (Maoist)) called for a boycott of the election. On 12 April, even though there was no voting this day, a vehicle in Chhattisgarh hit a CPI (Maoist) landmine resulting in the deaths of two bus drivers and five election officials, with four more injured, while travelling from Kutru to Bijapur in preparation for the fifth phase of voting. On the same day, within an hour, they also ambushed a vehicle resulting in the deaths of five paramilitary soldiers in the Darbha forest. The election was the longest and the most expensive general election in the history of the country, with the Election Commission of India estimating that the election did cost the exchequer 3500 crore (577 million), excluding the expenses incurred for security and by the individual political parties. Parties were expected to spend 30,500 crore (5 billion) in the election, according to the Centre for Media Studies. This was three times the amount spent in the previous election in 2009, and was then the world's second highest after the 7 billion spent on the 2012 US presidential election
The 2012 United States presidential election was the 57th quadrennial United States presidential election, presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic Party (United States), Democratic President of the Unite ...
.
The election reportedly boosted the hospitality sector as, according to ASSOCHAM
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India () is a Non-governmental organization, non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in New Delhi, India. The organisation represents the interests of trade and commerce i ...
, tourist arrivals from the countries such as the US, UK, France, Singapore and the U.A.E. have gone up by 10–15 percent, while the movement of domestic tourists jumped by 62%.
Turnout
Based on data from Election Commission India
*Phase 1: 7 April
Turnout was 75% in Assam and 84% in Tripura. Assam's INC Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that "there is no Narendra Modi magic in Assam. The Congress has been winning every form of elections since
2001 in Assam, and we are going to repeat the performance this time." Additionally, the borders with Bangladesh and Bhutan were closed for security reasons.
*Phase 2: 9 and 11 April
The turnouts were recorded at 82.5% in Nagaland
Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...
, 71% in Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...
, 66% in Meghalaya
Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and J ...
and 70% in Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...
. Mizoram
Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...
's voting was deferred to 11 April, where the turnout was 60%.
*Phase 3: 10 April
About 110 million of people were eligible to vote for 91 seats. The turnout was 76% in Kerala, 64% in Delhi, 55.98% in Madhya Pradesh, 54.13% in Maharashtra, 65% in Uttar Pradesh and 66.29% in Jammu. Kerala and Chandigarh set new voter turnout records. A higher proportion of eligible electors voted in 2014 than in 2009.
*Phase 4: 12 April
Voter turnout set new records or were near record levels with 75% in Goa, 75% in Assam, 81.8% in Tripura and 80.97% in Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...
(including the 2014 Sikkim Legislative Assembly election
The election was held on 12 April 2014 for 7th assembly of Sikkim, the northeastern state of India. It elected 32 members of Sikkim Legislative Assembly.
Background
Pawan Chamling led SDF had already formed the previous four governments in S ...
). West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee nearly cancelled the polls in her region after initially refusing to changes to the appointments of civil service departments, but was forced to constitutionally do so.
*Phase 5: 17 April
The largest voting day involved nearly 200 million eligible voters, 1,769 candidates for 121 seat. The voting turnout in Uttar Pradesh was 62%, West Bengal was 80%, over 70% in Odisha, 69% in Jammu and Kashmir, 54% in Madhya Pradesh and 62% in Jharkhand. Manipur had 74% and Maharashtra had a 61.7% turnout. In Karnataka, the average voting was up on 65% against 58% in the previous election, though urban voters were lower. In Chhattisgarh, the voter turnout was 63.44% compared to 57.6% in 2009, while Rajasthan recorded a 63.25% voter turnout, compared to 48.09% in 2009. In Bihar's seven constituencies, the turnout was 56%, compared to 39% in 2009. In one of six constituencies from Jammu and Kashmir, Udhampur, the turnout of 70% was significantly higher than the 2009 figure of 45%.[ Overall across India, the turnout on the day was over 65%] and nearly all constituencies had a higher voter turnout than 2009.
*Phase 6: 24 April
The second largest voting day entailed 180 million eligible voters across 201,735 voting centres to elect 117 members of parliament from 2,098 candidates. Tamil Nadu set a new voter turnout record for Lok Sabha elections with 73%, while West Bengal experienced the highest voter turnout for the day at 82%. As compared to that, urban centres such as Mumbai and Chennai saw lower voter turnouts, but bettered their figures from previous years. Mumbai witnessed a 53% turnout, compared to 41% in 2009. The rural areas of Maharashtra saw over 60% turnout, Madhya Pradesh had 64%, Uttar Pradesh had over 60%, Chhattisgarh had about 66%, Assam had over 70%, Bihar has about 60%, Jharkhand had 63.4%, Rajasthan had about 60% and Pudhucherry had about 82%.[ One of six constituencies from Jammu and Kashmir, Anantnag, had the lowest turnout of 28%, after a boycott call by separatists, an attack on 22 April that killed three people, and with thousands of ]Kashmiri Pandit
The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, a mountainous region l ...
s protesting in the afternoon that their names were missing from the electoral roll. As with previous phases, the overall voter turnout for the day was higher than 2009. In both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the turnout was about 9% higher, while Uttar Pradesh saw a 13% increase.
*Phase 7: 30 April
The 7th phase of voting entailed about 140 million eligible voters to elect 89 members of parliament from 1,295 candidates in 7 states and 2 Union Territories.[7th phase: 73% voter turnout in Punjab, 60% in Bihar]
Sandra Fernandez, One India News, 30 April 2014 Punjab set a new record in its voter turnout for general elections with 73%.[Gujarat sees highest jump in voter turnout over the last elections]
''The Times of India'' Gujarat saw the highest jump in voter turnout for the day with 62% turnout compared to 48% turnout in 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The nine constituencies in West Bengal reported over 81% turnout.
India Today Uttar Pradesh witnessed 57% turnout compared to 48% in 2009, while Bihar saw 60% compared to 52% in 2009.[ One of six constituencies from Jammu and Kashmir, eligible to vote in this phase, had the lowest turnout for the day at 26% compared to 25.55% in 2009, after a boycott call by separatists. Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, which will become India's new state on 2 June 2014, saw nearly 72% turnout to elect Lok Sabha members as well as its first state government.][ The aggregate turnout so far in the first 7 phases for 438 parliamentary seats has been 66.20%, significantly more than 57.41% figure in 2009 general elections.][
*Phase 8: 7 May
The 8th phase saw voting for 64 Lok Sabha seats in 7 states with 897 candidates competing.][Record-breaking Bengal rakes up 81% turnout in last leg of phase 8 Lok Sabha polling]
''Hindustan Times'' Along with the general elections, polls were also held for the first Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh excluding Telangana region. The voter turnout was high, with West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh each setting their respective general election voter turnout records. West Bengal recorded 81% polling compared to 78% for 2009.[ Andhra Pradesh recorded nearly 76% voter turnout. Himachal Pradesh saw about 66% turnout compared to 58% for 2009. Uttarakhand also set a new voter turnout record with 62% compared to 53% in 2009.][ The 2 constituencies of Jammu & Kashmir that voted witnessed a 49.9% turnout,][ while constituencies of Bihar saw 58% compared to 45% in 2009.][Nearly 64% Polling in Phase 8 of Elections, 7% Better Than 2009]
NDTV India Uttar Pradesh experienced a 55.5% turnout compared to 43.4% in 2009.
*Phase 9: 12 May
The 9th and last phase of voting entailed over 90 million eligible voters to elect 41 members of parliament from 606 candidates in 3 states.[ The 6 seats in Bihar saw a voter turnout of 58%, compared to 46% in 2009.][ Uttar Pradesh's 18 constituencies witnessed a 55.3% turnout, compared to 46.6% in 2009.] In West Bengal, the 17 constituencies that voted, saw a turnout of about 80% compared to 82% in 2009.[
The 2014 general elections, according to the Election Commission of India, recorded a cumulative total of 66.38% voter turnout, or 551.3 million out of 814 million eligible people casting their vote, according to provisional figures. The 2014 turnout surpassed India's previous highest voter turnout record of 64% in 1984 general elections.][Highest ever turnout of 66.38% recorded in this Lok Sabha election]
''The Times of India''[ The voter turnout in 2009 general elections was 58.19%, while 2004 general elections saw a voter turnout of 56.98%.]
''Business Standard'' The 2014 general elections entailed 8,202 candidates competing for 543 seats.
Re-polls
Many locations required re-polling for various reasons. There was re-polling on 9 polling stations in Orissa on 25 April. The Election Commission ordered re-polls in 52 polling booths (30 in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, 11 in Uttar Pradesh and 11 in West Bengal) because of complaints of booth capturing, rigging, violence or as demanded by the locals. The re-poll was held on 13 May. In Uttar Pradesh, re-polls were held in 3 polling booths in Muzaffarnagar, 7 in Ferozabad and 1 in Badaun. Re-polling also occurred on 14 May in Arunachal Pradesh and on 15 May in the states of Nagaland and Haryana. The Left parties and BJP alleged mass rigging and booth capturing by Trinamool Congress at thousands of polling stations in West Bengal. AAP demanded re-polling in 108 booths.[
Congress demanded re-polling at 1,344 polling stations in Nagaland. Re-polling was done in two polling stations in Tamil Nadu on 10 May and in 3 polling stations in ]Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
(Rayalaseema & Coastal Andhra) on 13 May. In Bihar, there was re-polling on 2 polling stations of Sitamarhi on 11 May and 3 polling stations in Muzaffarnagar went to re-polling on 13 May. On 15 May, there was re-polling in one booth in Tamil Nadu, and at 5 booths in West Bengal, Bihar, Nagaland.[ It was reported that not a single voter turned up for a re-poll at 5 polling stations in Nagaland on 15 May. On 12 May, the Bombay High court declined to order supplementary polling for voters in Maharashtra whose names were missing from the electoral rolls. There were speculated to be as many as 100,000 voters missing from the electoral roll in Pune and as many as 200,000 missing from electoral roll in Mumbai.
]
Voting pattern
The BJP secured 39% support from first time voters, while Congress received 19% of the first time votes. The NDA won 39 of 74 seats where Muslim voters make up between 21 and 95% of the total electorate. The BJP won all 16 seats in Uttar Pradesh. It also secured 5 out of 9 such seats in Bihar. Analyst Saeed Naqvi believes that Amit Shah managed to convince Dalits and OBC voters to elect the BJP as "Muslim appeasers in an atmosphere of perpetual communal tension".
The BJP won all 26 seats in Gujarat, marking the first time a single party won all seats in the state. The previous record was held by the Congress which won 25 of the 26 seats in the 1984 general election. The assembly segment-wise result of Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh shows that the BJP was number one in 328 seats, while the ruling SP led in just 42. Congress was ahead in 15, BSP 9 and Apna Dal 9. In 2012, SP had formed government by winning 224 assembly seats. BSP had won 80, BJP 47, Congress 28 and Apna Dal one.
Similarly, in Maharashtra BJP-Shiva Sena alliance has got a lead in 246 assembly segments out of the total 288. By securing seven of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, BJP remained ahead on 52 assembly segments in the state. Its ally HJC could not win any of the Lok Sabha seats it contested, but its candidates remained ahead in seven assembly segments. BJP contested 8 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, leaving two constituencies for its alliance partner HJC. BJP candidates remained ahead in all 27 assembly segments of Ambala, Karnal and Faridabad parliamentary constituencies. BJP won all seats except Rohtak where its candidate Om Prakash Dhankar lost to Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's son and sitting MP Deepender Hooda.
Results
About one-third of all winners had at least one pending criminal case against them, with some having serious criminal cases. A candidate with criminal case(s) had 13% chance of winning the election, whereas a candidate with a clean record had only 5% chance of winning. (Here, chance of winning = .)
Out of the 542 members analysed, 443 (82%) have total assets of or more. In the 15th Lok Sabha
Members of the 15th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2009 general election in India. It was dissolved on 18 May 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won 44 more seats than the previou ...
, out of 521 members analysed, 300 (58%) members had assets of or more. The average assets per member are (in 2009, this figure was ).
By region
By alliance
National Democratic Alliance (336)
United Progressive Alliance
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...
(60)
Others (147)
By state
Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1)
Andhra Pradesh (25)
Arunachal Pradesh (2)
Assam (14)
Bihar (40)
Chandigarh (1)
Chhattisgarh (11)
Dadra & Nagar Haveli (1)
Daman & Diu (1)
NCT of Delhi (7)
Goa (2)
Gujarat (26)
Haryana (10)
Himachal Pradesh (4)
Jammu and Kashmir (6)
Jharkhand (14)
Karnataka (28)
Kerala (20)
19 July 2018 Jose K Mani quit the lower house after being nominated to Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
br>
Lakshadweep (1)
Madhya Pradesh (29)
Maharashtra (48)
Manipur (2)
Meghalaya (2)
Mizoram (1)
Nagaland (1)
Odisha (21)
Puducherry (1)
Punjab (13)
Rajasthan (25)
Sikkim (1)
Tamil Nadu (39)
Telangana (17)
Tripura (2)
Uttar Pradesh (80)
Uttarakhand (5)
West Bengal (42)
Outgoing Cabinet Ministers who lost their seats
* Salman Khurshid
Salman Khurshid Alam Khan (born 1 January 1953) is an Indian politician, designated senior advocate, eminent author and a law teacher. He was the Cabinet Minister of the Ministry of External Affairs. He belongs to the Indian National Congress. ...
– Minister of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
(Farrukhabad
Farrukhabad is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Farrukhabad tehsil. The city is on the banks of river Ganges and is from the national capital Delhi and from the state capital Lucknow.
...
) INC
* Sushilkumar Shinde
Sushilkumar Sambhaji Shinde (born 4 September 1941) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was the Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Power in the Manmohan Singh government, and the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha until ...
– Minister of Home Affairs
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
(Solapur
Solapur () is a city located in the south-western region of the Indian state of Maharashtra, close to its border with Karnataka. Solapur is located on major highway, rail routes between Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, with a branch lin ...
) INC
* Ghulam Nabi Azad
Ghulam Nabi Azad (born 7 March 1949) is an Indian politician who served as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha between 2014 to 2021. He also served as the Chief Minister of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008. On 26 September ...
– Minister of Health and Family Welfare (Udhampur
Udhampur (ˌʊd̪ʱəmpur) is a city and a municipal council in Udhampur district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters of Udhampur District. Named after Raja Udham Singh, it serves as the district capital ...
) INC
* Kapil Sibal
Kapil Sibal (born 8 August 1948) is an Indian lawyer and politician. Sibal has represented several high-profile cases in the Supreme Court of India and is widely regarded as one of the famous lawyers of India. He is a Member of Parliament, in Ra ...
– Minister of Law and Justice
The Minister of Law and Justice is the head of the Ministry of Law and Justice and one of the cabinet ministers of the Government of India. The first Law and Justice Minister of independent India was B. R. Ambedkar, who served in first Nehru ...
(Chandni Chowk
The Chandni Chowk, also known as Moonlight Square is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, India. It is located close to the Old Delhi Railway Station. The Red Fort monument is located at the eastern end of Chandni Chowk. It was b ...
) INC
* Praful Patel
Praful Manoharbhai Patel (born 17 February 1957) is an Indian Nationalist Congress Party politician, industrialist and sports administrator.
He was the president of India's association football governing body the All India Football Federati ...
– Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
The Ministry of Heavy Industries is an executive agency of the Government of India. The Ministry entails for promoting the engineering industry viz. machine tools, heavy electrical, industrial machinery, and auto industry and administration of ...
( Bhandara-Gondiya) NCP
* M. M. Pallam Raju – Minister of Human Resource Development
The Minister of Education, formerly the Minister of Human Resources Development (1985-2020), is the head of the Ministry of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. ...
(Kakinada
Kakinada ( formerly called Kakinandiwada, Coringa, and Cocanada; ) is the sixth largest city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the district headquarters of the Kakinada District. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. J. ...
) INC
* Ajit Singh – Minister of Civil Aviation (Baghpat
Baghpat is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Bagpat district, which was established in 1997. It is part of the National Capital Region.
Etymology
The original name of the city was ''Vyaghrap ...
) RLD
* Girija Vyas
Girija Vyas (born 8 July 1946) is an Indian politician, poet and author. She was a Member of the 15th Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, from the Chittorgarh constituency and former president of National Commission for Women ...
– Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (Chittorgarh
Chittorgarh (also Chittor or Chittaurgarh) is a major city in Rajasthan state of western India. It lies on the Berach River, a tributary of the Banas, and is the administrative headquarters of Chittorgarh District. It was a major stronghol ...
) INC
* Dinsha Patel
Dinsha Jhaverbhai Patel (born 25 May 1937) is an Indian National Congress politician who was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India.
He represented the Kheda constituency of Gujarat and is a member of the Indian National Congress. He was the ...
– Minister of Mines (Kheda
Kheda, also known as Kaira, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was former administrative capital of Kheda district. India's First Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel Was Born In Kheda District of Gujarat State ...
) INC
* Sriprakash Jaiswal – Minister of Coal
The Ministry of Coal is an Indian government ministry headquartered in New Delhi. The portfolio is held by Cabinet Minister Pralhad Joshi.
The Ministry of Coal is charged with exploration of coal and lignite reserves in India, production, ...
( Kanpur) INC
* Chandresh Kumari
Chandresh Kumari Katoch (born 1 February 1944) is an Indian politician belonging to the Indian National Congress party. She is a former Minister of Culture in India's central government. She was a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha (the lowe ...
– Minister of Culture
A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizatio ...
(Jodhpur
Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the ...
) INC
* Sachin Pilot
Sachin Pilot (born 7 September 1977) is an Indian politician of Indian National Congress. Earlier he served as the MoS (Independent charge) Corporate Affairs & MoS Communication & IT, Government of India, Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan a ...
– Minister of Corporate Affairs (Ajmer
Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "' ...
) INC
* Beni Prasad Verma
Beni Prasad Verma (11 February 1941 – 27 March 2020) was an Indian politician and a member of the Samajwadi Party. Earlier he was with Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav, then he joined Indian National Congress and was elected on its tic ...
- Minister of Steel ( Gonda) INC
* Farooq Abdullah
Farooq Abdullah (born 21 October 1937) is an Indian politician who was Ex. President of Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. He has served as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions since 1982, and as the union minister f ...
- Minister for Renewable Energy ( Srinagar) JKNC
* Srikant Kumar Jena - Former Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in India is the federal ministry with administrative purview over three departments namely:
*Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals
*Department of Fertilizers.
*Department of Pharmaceuticals.
T ...
and Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation ( Balasore) - INC
Outgoing Ministers of State to lose their seats
* Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh
Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh or R. P. N. Singh (born 25 April 1964), is an Indian politician and former Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs. He was the Member of Parliament for Kushinagar constituency in the fifteenth Lok Sabh ...
- Minister of State for Home Affairs (Kushi Nagar (Lok Sabha constituency), Kushi Nagar) INC
* Milind Deora - Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (India), Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology (Mumbai South (Lok Sabha constituency), Mumbai South) INC
* Jitendra Singh (politician, born 1971), Jitendra Singh - Minister of Defence (India), Minister of State for Defence (Alwar (Lok Sabha constituency), Alwar) (INC)
* Jitin Prasada - Ministry of Human Resource Development (India), Minister of State for Human Resource Development (Dhaurahra (Lok Sabha constituency), Dhaurara) (INC)
Reactions
Domestic
;;Economic
The country's economic indicators were performing well in advance of the result in expectation of a BJP win, on the perception that Modi is business-friendly. The benchmark Sensex, BSE Sensex and CNX Nifty indices hit record highs and the Indian rupee strengthened following months of poor performance. On the result day, as early vote counts gave the BJP a majority lead, the Sensex reached a record high of 25,375.63 points. It ended the day at a new closing high of 24,121.74. The Nifty reached a record high of 7,563.50, before ending the day at a new closing high of 7,203. The Indian rupee rose to an 11-month high of 58.62 against the US dollar and closed at 58.79. Deutsche Bank revised its December 2014 target for the Sensex to 28,000, and Macquarie revised its 12-month target for the Nifty to 8,400 from 7,200. Edelweiss set its December 2014 targets for the Sensex and Nifty at 29,000 and 9,000 respectively.
;;Media
''India Times'' suggested that the election was watched in Pakistan with Modi being the less popular candidate than AAP's Kejriwal. Comparisons were made between the latter and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Imran Khan. Analysts suggested a high turnout would favour the BJP as it indicates an increase in participation of urban voters who are the party's traditional vote bank. Others have suggested however, that this could indicate an increase in voting amongst the Islam in India, 150 million Muslims that generally support the INC. Varghese K George, the political editor of ''The Hindu'' said that both readings rely on too many assumptions but that the only reading so far was the BJP was "doing well [and] Modi is managing to make some connection with voters and the Congress is doing pretty badly."
;;Politicians
When it became clear that the BJP would win the election, Narendra Modi tweeted, "India has won! ''Bharat ki Vijay''. ''Achhe din aane waale hain, Ache din ane wale hai'' (good days are ahead)." This tweet instantly became India's most retweeted Twitter post. Manmohan Singh congratulated Modi by telephone. Congress President Sonia Gandhi accepted the defeat and congratulated the new government saying, "I congratulate the next government. I take full responsibility for the loss of Congress." Rahul Gandhi also did the same saying, "The new government has been given a mandate by the people. As Congress Vice President I hold myself responsible. The Congress party has done badly."
Former Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said, "I am surprised by the results, especially in Telangana and Jharkhand. There was clearly a Modi effect." At the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on 19 May, general secretary Mohan Prakash claimed that Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and the RSS had been working together since 2009 to defeat the UPA government. Prakash further claimed that this was because of Israel's unhappiness with the UPA government. According to him, this was because the UPA only had limited political India–Israel relations, relations with Israel, unlike the previous NDA government. Outgoing Finance Minister P. Chidambaram criticised the style of functioning and work culture at the Congress headquarters for the loss, and suggested adopting a more corporate approach. Some Congress members blamed Japanese communication agency Dentsu, which had been hired by the party, at a cost of nearly 6 billion, to handle their election advertising campaign and image makeover of Rahul Gandhi along with another agency Burson-Marsteller. Chairman of the party's communication department Ajay Maken harshly criticised Dentsu India executive chairman Rohit Ohri for a "spineless campaign". Priya Dutt, Secretary of the party's communication department, pointed out the gap between the people and the Congress leadership stating, "We need to bridge that gap. We need to bring that right up to the leadership. There is a lot of criticism. We have to look at where we have gone wrong in the past 10 years." ''Daily News and Analysis, DNA'' described the accusations against Mossad, RSS and Dentsu as "bizarre theories", and noted that "everyone except vice-president Rahul Gandhi has been held responsible for their crushing defeat."[
Union minister in the outgoing government Milind Deora told ''The Indian Express'' on 21 May that although "many factors" led to the party's defeat and Rahul's leadership alone could not be blamed, "it was not about one person's image but the people surrounding that person also. Deora stated that many party members felt that the decision makers in the party had "no electoral experience...no stature, standing, respect and credibility in the party". He accused the people who "were in charge of important departments and held key positions" of not listening to party cadres and MPs, which he believed prevented a "diverse opinion" from being heard and "shut out a lot of people". Deora stated, "A lot of us felt our voices were never heard. We felt our voices don't matter. This has to change. The MPs and ministers should not feel we are being not heard. It is not the advisors alone. The people who take the advice also have to bear responsibility. Those who gave advice and those who received the advice as also those who feel they can give better advice – all have to bear responsibility." Deora felt the party had to "open up" and "promote avenues for dissent and debate internally". When asked who was to blame, Deora said, "there are many people from top to bottom ... there was lack of coordination and the response was slow ... there was a very unresponsive attitude. ... the buck stops with the party." Although this statement received support from several Congress members, Deora clarified on Twitter, "My comments are out of emotions of deep loyalty to the party, pain of our performance & a sincere desire to see us bounce back. Nothing more." Senior party leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi expressed hope that an "honest and ruthless introspection" would be carried out fix the problems. He further stated that while Deora's statement may not have been fully correct, a "large portion of what he said is correct". Congress members such as Jairam Ramesh, Madan Gopal Singh, Madan Gopal and Kanishka Singh criticised Rahul Gandhi's aides.]
;;Individuals
Rajnikanth congratulated Narendra Modi on Twitter for his "historic win". The actor also congratulated Jayalalithaa for her party's performance in the election. Tamil actor Dhanush also tweeted congratulations to Modi. Several Bollywood celebrities including Subhash Ghai, Vishal Dadalani, Lata Mangeshkar, Ranvir Shorey, Vivek Oberoi, Baba Sehgal, Shekhar Kapur, Arshad Warsi, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, Farhan Akhtar, Karan Johar, Sangeeth Sivan, Kabir Bedi, Anupam Kher, Madhur Bhandarkar, Atul Kasbekar and Pritish Nandy tweeted congratulations to Modi and the BJP for their victory.
President of Film Federation of India Ravi Kottarakara congratulated Modi "on behalf of the entire Indian film fraternity". CEO of the Film & TV Producers Guild of India Kulmmet Makkar described the "clear mandate" as being "great" for the Indian film industry. He also expressed "positive hopes" from the new government.
International
* – President Hamid Karzai sent congratulations. Karzai, who attended school in Shimla, spoke to Modi in Hindi. Spokesperson Aimal Faizi tweeted, "President #Karzai extends his warm Congratulations to @narendramodi on victory in elections. Afghans always regard #India as a true friend"
* – Prime Minister Tony Abbott called Modi to congratulate him. He tweeted, "I've spoken to @narendramodi and congratulated him on his success. I look forward to strengthening ties between India and Australia". He further said that he was looking forward to meet Modi during the upcoming G-20 Summit to be held in Brisbane in November 2014.
* – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wrote, "The decisive verdict given by the people of your great country is a strong testimony to your dynamic, inspiring and visionary leadership qualities and manifestation of the trust and confidence reposed in you by the people of the largest democracy in the world. I am delighted to see a great friend of Bangladesh leading an extremely friendly country, India, in the coming days." She further stated, "I hope that you would find my country your second home and first destination for your official visit abroad". Hasina also sent a separate letter to BJP President Rajnath Singh
Rajnath Singh (; born 10 July 1951) is an Indian politician serving as the Defence Minister of India. He is currently the Deputy Leader of the House Lok Sabha. He is the former President of Bharatiya Janata Party. He has previously served as ...
congratulating him and party members for their "landslide victory", on behalf of the Bangladesh Awami League. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia, and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamaat-e-Islami also sent messages congratulating Modi.
* – Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck called Modi and congratulated him on his victory.
* – Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah sent a message of congratulations to Modi. In his message, the Sultan wished Modi success and looked forward to working with him to strengthen long-standing ties of friendship and co-operation between Brunei and India, including through work in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and the Asean-India Dialogue.
* – Canadian High Commissioner Stewart Beck said, "I had the pleasure to meet with Modi during his time as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and I look forward to working with him to grow Canada's bilateral relationship with India. I also wish to congratulate the people of India on exercising their right to vote and showing the world the strength of their democratic system." Prime minister Stephen Harper sent a congratulatory message to Modi on 17 May.
* – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, "China is willing to make joint efforts with the new Indian government, maintain high level exchanges, deepen cooperation in all areas and bring the China-India strategic partnership to new height." The Chinese government formally congratulated Modi on 23 May. The Chinese government had been waiting for Modi to be officially be sworn in before issuing a formal message, as they were conscious of protocol. Modi made four visits to China during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat, resulting in over US$900 million worth of Chinese investments in Gujarat. Premier Li Keqiang congratulated Modi on 26 May. He stated that China viewed India as a "natural cooperative partner" and expressed his desire to work together for "peaceful, cooperative and common development" that would "not only bring benefits to their own people but also contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of Asia and beyond".
* – Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt called Modi and congratulated him on his victory.
* – French Ambassador to India François Richier stated, "This massive vote of confidence highlights the vitality of Indian democracy. France is keen to work hand in hand with the new Indian leadership. Paris statement will follow formal announcement by Election Commission." President Francois Hollande congratulated Modi by telephone on 19 May. He invited him to come to France "when he wished". French Embassy officials stated, "He [Hollande] confirmed that he [Modi] would have France's support in the task at hand and reiterated his commitment to the strategic partnership and friendship between France and India, a partner and ally of France."
* – On 15 May, the day prior to the results being declared, German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner stated, "An elected Prime Minister of India does not need a visa for Germany, he is welcome there". Chancellor Angela Merkel called Modi on 19 May, congratulated him on his victory and invited him to Berlin.
* – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telephoned Narendra Modi to congratulate him. A statement read, "He [Netanyahu] said that he was looking forward to work with Mr. Modi and enhance bilateral cooperation".
* – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Modi and congratulated him on his victory.
* – Prime Minister Najib Razak congratulated Modi and the BJP on Twitter, and also stated that he was "looking forward to continuing strong Malaysia-India partnership" under the new government.
* – President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom congratulated Modi and sent wishes for "every success and prosperity". The President stated that India had chosen "the most proficient leadership". Modi was also congratulated by former President Mohamed Nasheed on Twitter. Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives Rajeev Shahare stated that relations between the countries would strengthen under the new prime minister.
* – Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam sent a message to Modi on 16 May, congratulating Modi for "the impressive and well-deserved victory of his party". Ramgoolam stated that "these elections in the largest democracy of the world are yet again a testimony to the exceptional robustness of Indian democracy", and added that "Mauritius applauds and commends India for upholding her acclaimed democratic credentials to which Mauritius feels particularly attached". He further stated "your electoral victory is a defining moment in the contemporary history of your great country. It certainly reflects the trust that the people place in you to chart the future course of your nation. You embody the politics of hope and delivery to your people in their aspirations for development and prosperity".
* – Prime Minister Sushil Koirala congratulated Narendra Modi on his victory and invited him to visit Nepal. President Ram Baran Yadav also called Modi and BJP President Rajnath Singh to congratulate them on the BJP's victory.
* – Prime Minister John Key congratulated Modi by letter. Key expressed hope that the two countries would be able to negotiate a free trade agreement, which they began discussing in 2010. However, talks later stalled and the last round of discussions was held in July 2013. The Prime Minister stated, "We are sort of hopeful we can reignite the free trade agreement with Modi as the new Prime Minister. He has obviously been very pro-business and he has had an overwhelming mandate delivered to him so you can see the Indian people want and expect to see high levels of economic growth. One of those things is trade, so we are certainly going to be taking it up with the new Indian Government at the appropriate time."
* – Prime Minister Erna Solberg called Modi and congratulated him on his victory.
* – Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated Modi and offered good wishes on the BJP's "impressive victory". Sharif also invited Modi to visit Pakistan.
* – Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani congratulated Modi on his party's victory in the general election in a telephone conversation.
* – President Vladimir Putin congratulated Modi and the BJP on the election victory gave a high assessment of the traditionally friendly ties between Russia and India. These ties have a foundation in the Declaration on Strategic Partnership, which was signed while the BJP was in power and set a development course for bilateral relations for years to come.
* – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong congratulated Modi and the BJP on Twitter and Facebook, and also stated that he was "looking forward to working with the new Indian Government to strengthen India-Singapore relations". Modi replied to the tweet stating, "@leehsienloong Thank you very much. Singapore is a valued friend & I am sure we will make our ties stronger in the times to come". Former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong wrote, "I recall our meetings and frank exchange of views since 2006 when I visited Gujarat. You have always shown a strong resolve to bring economic prosperity to the Indian people.... I am confident that you will lead India to greater heights as Prime Minister, and further build on the excellent ties between our two countries."
* – President Jacob Zuma said in a statement on 17 May, "With India under the leadership of Mr Modi, the Government of South Africa looks forward to consolidating the strong bilateral political and economic relations that exist between our two sister Republics."
* – President Mariano Rajoy sent a letter congratulating Modi on his "brilliant victory" in the election. Rajoy expressed his admiration for the "democratic spirit that reigned over such a complex election process". The President concluded his letter stating that he was looking forward to meeting Modi in person and offered his "warmest regards and deepest personal respect".
* – President Mahinda Rajapaksa called Modi and congratulated him for a "great" victory. The President tweeted, "Called @narendramodi a short while ago; Congratulated on BJP victory & invited for a state visit to #SriLanka"
* – Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay thanked the UPA government "or their unwavering support for the Tibetan people during its two full terms", and also congratulated the BJP-led NDA for their victory.
* – Prime Minister David Cameron called Modi and congratulated him on the "election success" and stated that he was keen on working together, one of the first Western leaders to do. A spokesperson stated, "The prime minister called Narendra Modi this morning to congratulate him on his victory in the Indian elections and the record turnout, making this the biggest democratic election in history. Modi said he would be delighted to accept the Prime Minister's invitation to visit the UK. Both leaders agreed on the importance of the UK-India relationship and agreed to work together to strengthen it in the months ahead." Cameron also tweeted using his official account, "Congratulations @narendramodi on victory in India's elections. Keen to work together to get the most from UK-India relationship". British Foreign Minister William Hague stated, "I congratulate Narendra Modi and the BJP on their success and look forward to forging an even closer partnership with India in the months ahead. UK has strong ties with India and the British government looks forward to working with the new Indian government to build on this relationship and deliver security, growth and prosperity for both our nations."
* – White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, "We congratulate Narendra Modi and the BJP on winning a majority of seats in this historic election. Once the government is formed, we look forward to working closely with the prime minister and the Cabinet to advance our strong bilateral relationship based on shared democratic values. The prime minister of India will be welcomed to the US." The White House National Security Council tweeted, "US congratulates BJP on its victory in India's historic election. We look forward to working with government once formed to advance our partnership". Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted, "Congrats to @narendramodi and BJP. Look forward to working w/you/growing shared prosperity/security w/world's largest democracy".
Narendra Modi responded to each tweet from world leaders thanking them for their support. The media reported the order in which Modi responded to the tweets, and noted that Barack Obama was the last to receive a reply from him. ''The New York Times'' observed that "the order in which he thanked them and one notable omission, later rectified, was more interesting than the content of the tweets themselves." The paper further stated, "The silence underscored what will be uncomfortable diplomatic theater in the weeks and months to come. The United States refused to issue Mr. Modi a visa in 2005 as a response to his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. As Mr. Modi's star rose in the past year, American leaders reached out, but a thaw on Mr. Modi's side has been almost imperceptible." State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said, "I think our relationship between the United States and India is so strong and enduring we won't worry about the Twitter rank order". John Kerry reiterated the United States' willingness to work with the new government as well as the importance of India-US relations on 20 May. He also added that he was looking forward to returning to India soon and "echo President Obama's invitation to Prime Minister Modi to visit the United States at the earliest opportunity." ''The Times of India'' noted that the first leader to receive a tweet from Modi was David Cameron. The United Kingdom was among the first countries to end a US-led diplomatic boycott of Modi. ''Mint'' stated that Modi's "more expansive responses" were to the leaders of Japan and Russia. According to former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh, "It is natural that Modi feels affinity with some leaders who are strong leaders, proudly nationalistic, trying to fix the economy with firm measures."
; International media
Prior to the announcement of the result, ''The Washington Post'' highlighted "...2014 will be the biggest year in the history of democracy, with more people than ever before going to the polls to decide their own fate...this really looks to be one of the most fascinating political events this year, and not just because of its scale...It's a fascinating moment in democracy, and one that shouldn't be ignored". ''The New York Times'' added that "the sheer size of the electorate makes this election the largest ever in the world and an inspiring celebration of universal adult suffrage," but also wrote "lurking behind the feel-good spectacle is the reality that India's elections are awash in illegal cash, serious violence and dirty tricks." ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' wrote of the election that the "process is awesome in its complexity, and the campaigns have given rise to robust debate...But here's something else not to miss: It’s all pretty damn colorful." It highlighted five reasons that make the election interesting: Kejriwal's effect, Modi's wife; exit polls are barred but betting on the future prime minister was not and Modi was in the lead; "vote buying" through cash, alcohol or other means; and 3D computer graphics, 3D campaigning. It also predicted better India-Japan relations, relations with Japan at the expense of China–India relations, relations with China under Modi, and asked whether a redefinition of India and nuclear weapons, India's nuclear weapons program would result from the elections.
An editorial in the ''China Daily'', the Chinese government's official English-language newspaper, compared Modi's "preoccupation with development" with China's "own experiences and development philosophy", and argued that this had "inspired unprecedented optimism here over our South Asian neighbour's growth potential". The paper also argued that "western rhetoric" which stated that both countries were "destined to stand against each other" had been proven wrong by the fact that India and China had "by and large, managed their differences well over the decades". It also welcomed Modi's invitation to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to attend his swearing-in ceremony.
;Individuals and organisations
The 14th Dalai Lama sent a letter congratulating Modi for the BJP's "decisive victory". The Dalai Lama expressed hope that just as Modi had brought development and prosperity to Gujarat, India would continue to "flourish and prosper" under his leadership.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) congratulated Narendra Modi, and expressed hope that his leadership would further strengthen India's relations with the US and Israel. Director of AJC's Asia Pacific Institute (API) Shira Loewenberg stated, "We look forward to working with Modi and the new government to further strengthen and deepen India's extensive relations with the United States and Israel. BJP has long been a friend to Israel and the Jewish people."
Aftermath
Government formation
Manmohan Singh tendered his resignation to President Pranab Mukherjee on 17 May. He continued as caretaker Prime Minister, at the request of the President, until 26 May 2014, when Narendra Modi and his cabinet were sworn to office.Narendra Modi Sworn in as Prime Minister of India
''The Wall Street Journal'', 26 May 2014
Support for the new government
Subsequent by-elections and vacancies
Notes
References
Further reading
* Sardesai, Rajdeep. '' 2014: The Election That Changed India'' (2014
excerpt
* Sridharan, Eswaran. "Behind Modi's Victory." ''Journal of Democracy'' (2014) 24#4 pp: 20–33
Online
* Gabriel, Karen and P K Vijayan "Made in India to Make in India: The Meanings of Moditva", ''Exemplar: The Journal of South Asian Studies'', Vol. 2, no 3, Spring 2015.
External links
Election Commission of India website
List of Members Elected General Election of the 16th Lok Sabha, 2014
{{Indian elections
2014 Indian general election,
2014 elections in India
April 2014 events in India
May 2014 events in India