A Look At 13 Bellwether Seats In 7 States And How They Voted Over The Years

With the conclusion of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on Saturday, all eyes are now on June 4, when the election results will be declared.

While the parties wait for the results with bated breath, about 13 bellwether seats spread across 7 states give a good indication of what to expect on the counting day.

A bellwether seat is a constituency that gives an indication/trend for the region and also its impact on the national level.

Such seats signal the election mood not just locally but nationally as well, as the party winning here is usually the winner at the national level.

These bellwether seats are Valsad, Jamnagar, Banaskantha and Anand (in Gujarat), Faridabad, Ambala, Karnala (in Haryana), Jammu, Udhampur (Jammu), Alwar (Rajasthan), Secunderabad (Telangana), Sasaram (Bihar) and Ranchi (Jharkhand).

All these constituencies voted for a party, which rose to power and formed the government at Centre.

Rajasthan's Alwar seat voted for BJP (1999, 2019) and for Congress (2004, 2009).

Jharkhand's Ranchi Lok Sabha seat voted for BJP (1998, 1998, 1999, 2019) and for Congress (2004, 2009).

Haryana's Karnal LS seat voted for BJP (1999, 2014, 2019) and for Congress (2004, 2009).

Faridabad, another Lok Sabha seat of Haryana voted for BJP (1998, 1999) and for Congress (1980, 1984, 1989, 1991).

Jammu and Kashmir's Jammu LS seat voted for BJP (1998, 1999, 2014, 2019) and for Congress (2004, 2009).

Meanwhile, a couple of exit polls, at least six polling agencies, have predicted a hat-trick for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that the BJP is poised to win 2024 elections with a thumping majority.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)