PM Narendra Modi has thanked supporters for the NDA's win
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today thanked the people of India for giving the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) a third consecutive win.
"People have placed their faith in NDA, for a third consecutive time! This is a historical feat in India's history," PM Modi said in a post on X.
Trends show the NDA crossed the halfway mark and won 290 seats. The Opposition bloc INDIA also made a comeback of sorts, winning 234 seats in the Lok Sabha - a huge improvement since 2019.
"I bow to the Janata Janardan for this affection and assure them that we will continue the good work done in the last decade to keep fulfilling the aspirations of people," said PM Modi, who won from Varanasi seat by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes.
"I also salute all our Karyakartas for their hard work. Words will never do justice to their exceptional efforts," PM Modi said.
PM Modi's winning margin from Varanasi this time, however, is much less than the over 4-lakh-vote margin he got in the 2019 election.
Political analysts found Uttar Pradesh to be the biggest surprise of the day, with the BJP and Samajwadi Party (SP) neck and neck in what was seen to be an easy contest for the BJP.
Among the biggest talking points this election was the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a poll promise of the BJP since the 1980s. The party's supporters had been sure it would be a one of the decisive factors in the Lok Sabha elections.
But the SP is leading in Faizabad, which comprises the Ayodhya assembly seat. Here, the SP's Awadhesh Prasad is leading by over 33,000 votes to his nearest rival from the BJP Lallu Singh. Exit polls had forecast the BJP to win a bulk of the seats in Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha - the highest in the country.