DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 24 PAGES SINCE 1932 `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM BJPTALLYDOWNBY63,NITISHANDNAIDUEMERGEKEYPLAYERS India gives NDA third term, Modi a message (-43) 543 TotalSeats CONG+ 232 (+112) OTHERS 17 (-69) VOTE SHARE BJP+ 294 CONG+ 40.66% (+6.94%*) OTHERS 16.60% (-5.31*) BJP+ 42.74% (-1.63%*) Note: 2019 figures based on tally of current alliance members; Figures include wins/ leads as of 10 pm; *Percentage points. Source: EC Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal setbacks behind BJP losing majority VERDICT 2024 PAGE 14 EDITORIAL PAGE BALANCE RESTORED Pratap Bhanu Mehta PAGE 6 & 7 THE BJP Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi. Anil Sharma Tough road ahead for BJP plans — one-poll push to delimitation PAGE 8 & 9 ‘NDA GOVT WILL WORK WITH ALL STATES’ PM: First time since 1962, a govt elected three times in a row BUSINESS AS USUAL NEW DELHI, JUNE 4 Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday. Tashi Tobgyal CONGRESS TALLY UP TO 99 Boosted by big gains, Cong says will talk to allies on forming govt MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, JUNE 4 THECONGRESSisbackonitsfeet — almost. Whilethepartyhaswonoris leading in 99 seats, the INDIA bloc—poweredbyaremarkable show by the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh and Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal — has won 232 seats. After a gap of 10 years, the Congress has secured the numbers to claim the post of Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, andearnedtherighttobeamore aggressive Opposition force. Significantly, the Congress did not outrightly rule out the possibility of exploring the options for government formation. Sources said the INDIA bloc has made some overtures to both JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu – both in the NDA camp – who are together leading in 28 seats. Party leaders said Nitish and Naidu have the NDA and INDIA bloc options open before them. “So we have reached out to them and conveyed our mind…but are not aggressively looking at government formation. The mandate, whatever said and done, is in favour of the NDA. Nitish and Naidu have the NDA and INDIA bloc options open before them. It is up to them. But if the BJP fails to take them along… then we will obviously go for a shot,” a senior Congress leader said. The increase in the party’s tally has eased pressure on the Gandhis. After a decade in political wilderness, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has finally managed to inject a sense of hope and confidence in the party’s leadership and workers that he canleadthe139-year-oldorganisation on the path to revival, although it is still a long and arduous road, despite Tuesday’s better-than-expected showing at the hustings. And playing perfect foil for the Gandhi family scion was Congress 81-year-old CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WORST TRADING SESSION IN OVER 4 YEARS THAT THE road to Delhi runs through Uttar Pradesh is not lost on anyone. With 80 seats in a House of 543, UP has decided national outcomes and withstoodthetestof time,electionafter election. It propelled Narendra Modi’s risetopowerin2014,sending71 BJPMPstoLokSabha,andhelped him consolidate his grip in 2019 by electing 62 party candidates and two of ally Apna Dal (S). This time, UP was meant to EXPLAINED Decoding the verdict MORE ON PAGES 5-20 BHUBANESWAR, HYDERABAD, JUNE 4 ODISHA ASSEMBLY Party 2019 2024 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 23 (32.49) 78 (40.04) BJD EVENAStheBJP-ledNDAsuffered a setback at the national level, withitstallyinthe2024LokSabha electionsfallingwellshortofexitpoll projections, the silver lining for the alliance came from strong performances in the two state polls of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.InOdisha,theBJPwasall settoformamajoritygovernment of its own for the first time, winning 78 out of 147 seats. The outcome brings to an end the fiveterm reign of Naveen Patnaik's BJP 112 (44.71) 51 (40.19) Cong 9 (16.12) Others 2 (6.68) 14 (13.29) 4 (6.48) ANDHRA ASSEMBLY Party TDP 2019 2024 23 (39.17) 135 (45.60) JSP* 1 (5.53) 21 BJP 0 (0.84) 8 (2.79) YSRCP 151(49.95) 11 (39.37) Cong 0 (1.17) Others 0 (3.34) 0 (1.72) 0 (10.49) *JSP vote share included in others for 2024; (vote share in %) BY UNNY nance and heralding the return of a coalition government at the Centre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing party workers CONTINUEDONPAGE2 THE TDP and JD(U), two parties key to the third successive stint of the NDA at the Centre, have decided to press for the post of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Sources said the two parties have already indicated to the BJP leadership that the Speaker’s postshouldbeofferedtoalliance partners — TDP’s GMC Balayogi was Speaker when Atal Bihari Vajpaye was heading a coalition government in the late 1990s. This move, sources said, is to “insulate” the alliance partners from any possible split in the future. The Speaker’s role is crucial in the anti-defection law because the time and nature of the final decision is entirely a call CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Disconnect on ground, ticket choice to jobs, caste: How BJP lost UP plot NEW DELHI, LUCKNOW, JUNE 4 PAGE 10 LIZ MATHEW SETBACK IN KEY STATE SHYAMLAL YADAV & BHUPENDRA PANDEY DMK, allies sweep TN; Amethi rejects Irani SUJIT BISOYI & SREENIVAS JANYALA NEW DELHI, JUNE 4 MANOJ C G & LIZ MATHEW THE PEOPLE have spoken and the NDA with leads in 294 Lok Sabha seats is set to return for a third term but the mandate is not exactly what Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spearheaded the BJP campaign, may have hoped for. Contrary to exit polls that predicted a landslide for the rulingalliance,theBJPTuesdaywas short of a majority on its own – with 272 as the halfway in the House of 543, its leads hovered around the 240-mark at night – and appeared heavily dependent on alliance partners especially the TDP and JD(U), ending a decade of single-party domi- As insurance, TDP & JD(U) push case for Speaker’s post INDIA BLOC State polls good news for NDA: BJP ends Naveen rule in Odisha, TDP back in Andhra set the ball rolling for an even larger mandate but by Tuesday evening, the BJP was struggling withleadsinonly33constituencies, losing ground to the SPCongress alliance. That Modi’s own victory margin of 1.52 lakh votes in Varanasi had dropped from 4.79 lakh in 2019 was a pointer to how the BJP had lost the plot in UP this time. Other indicators of the setback in the state – and nationally – were the defeats of Union Minister Smriti Irani in Amethi, and sitting MP Lallu Singh in Faizabad (Ayodhya), months after the Ram temple consecrationceremonythatcap- tivated the nation. As the state prepared to vote in each of the seven phases, conversations from campaign trails and rallies, field visits to constituencies, both urban and rural, gave ample indication that the BJP could run into turbulence. A host of factors seemed to be at play – the SP appeared to have learnt from the BJP social engineering experiment of expanding its base; many among the BJP candidates were not those the party and supporters wished; warnings of local disconnect were ignored in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata, Tuesday. Partha Paul TMC makes major gains in Bengal, punctures BJP RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, JUNE 4 NOT ONLY did Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee hold her ground in West Bengal, but her party also made major gains, thereby puncturing the BJP’s plantobreachtheTMC’sfortress once again. The TMC won 29, two-thirds of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, an increase of seven seats from2019whentheBJPhadperformedimpressivelywinning18 seats. This time though the TMC was a part of the Opposition INDIA bloc nationally, it fought alone in West Bengal, contesting all the 42 Lok Sabha seats. Despite being besieged by a series of corruption cases since the 2021 Assembly polls, the TMC fought the election on welfare schemes of the state governmentlikeLakshmirBhandar,the direct transfer benefit scheme for women, and harped on the “BJP is anti-Bengali" campaign. The TMC vote share also jumped from 43.3 percent in 2019 to 46.01 per cent. Simultaneously, the BJP’s vote shrunk by 2.5 percentage points -- from 40.70 per cent to 38.73 per cent. For the Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which had a seat-sharing agreement, unlike the last Lok Sabha polls, theiroverallvoteshareremained CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BETWEEN THE NUMBERS On exit poll high, markets Refrain behind verdict: ‘Centre’s power too one-sided, a little restraint?’ fall 6% as BJP loses majority NEERJA CHOWDHURY HITESH VYAS & GEORGE MATHEW MUMBAI, JUNE 4 WITHTHELokSabhaelectionresultsTuesdaymakingitclearthe BJP would not be able to reach the majority mark on its own and would have to depend on its allies to form the government at the Centre, domestic stock markets witnessed its worst trading sessions in over four years with the Sensex and the Nifty crashing over 8 per cent during intraday trades. During intraday trades, the Sensex tanked 6,234.35 points and the broader Nifty plummeted 1982.45 points. However, benchmark indices recouped some of the losses to finally end 6 per cent down. The Sensex closed at 72,079.05, down 4,389.73 points, or 5.74 points. The NSE’s Nifty 50 tanked 1,379.4 points, or 5.93 per cent, to close at 21,884.5. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms plunged to Rs 394.83lakhcrore,downRs31.07 lakh crore, compared to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JUNE 4 IFONEwordcansumuptheoutcome of the 2024 elections, it is the Hindi word, “ankush,” (restraint) that the Indian voter has exercised—shehasgiventheBJP the mandate to rule for a third term — but has also reined it in. The BJP leadership will now havetoruleattheheadof acoalition government, take along its allies,bemoremindfulof itsown party leaders who were given short shrift. The BJP may still dismiss concerns raised by the Opposition but it will be aware thatitcan’tquitegetawaywithit – with a 60-plus dip in their tally. In democratic politics, arithmeticalsoshapeschemistryand Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows that. Ever since he began contesting elections in 2001, he has never been part of a formation that’s not in majority -- until now. This did have an echo on the campaign street. After the BJP’s sweeping victories, the break-up of Oppositionparties,thearrest of twosittingChief Ministers,the use of Central agencies, the stand-off between Governors and CMs, the way Rahul Gandhi was disqualified, many people, SP workers celebrate in Lucknow on Tuesday. Vishal Srivastav including BJP voters, would ask, “Kuchh zyada toh nahin ho raha? Thoda ankush hota to achcha hota.” (Isn’t this too much, too one-sided…a little restraint would be good). This refrain cut across sections. Reacting to the unbridled power the “400 paar” slogan signalled, the banker in Mumbai worried whether it would lead to“aone-partyrule”ora“change in the preamble and basic structure of the Constitution”. A top corporate called for a little more elbow room in the echelons of power. Dalits, especially the politically empowered influencers in their communities, sitting in their tolas in UP, Rajasthan or Maharashtra, discussed how an “ek-tarfa success” for the BJP may entail a change that would finish “Baba's kitab” (BR Ambedkar-shapedConstitution) and end reservations given to them; Rajputs in UP worried theircommunitykinsman,Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, might be shunted out after the Lok Sabhaelections,if thepartyleadership gained strength. Many of them, for instance, stayed away on voting day. In one way or another, all wanted checks and balances to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata