DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA TotalSeats `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 CONG+ 232 (+112) OTHERS 17 (-69) VOTE SHARE (-43) 543 POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2024, JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 24 PAGES 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 10pm; *Percentage points. Source: EC BJP SHORT OF MAJORITY AS NDA RETURNS FOR THIRD SUCCESSIVE TERM India sends a message to Modi BJP tally down by 63, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal play key role As insurance, TDP & JD(U) push case for Speaker’s post LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, JUNE 4 PM Narendra Modi with BJP chief J P Nadda; Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Tuesday. Tashi Tobgyal, Anil Sharma PM: First time since 1962, a govt Boosted by big gains, Cong says will talk to elected three times in a row allies on forming govt MANOJ C G & LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, JUNE 4 THE PEOPLE have spoken and the NDA with leads in 292 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. Contrarytoexitpollsthatpredicted a landslide for the ruling alliance, the BJP Tuesday was BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY 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 – andappearedheavilydependent onalliancepartnersespeciallythe TDP and JD(U), ending a decade of single-party dominance and heraldingthereturnofacoalition government at the Centre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing party workers at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi in the evening, hailed the mandate for the NDA and a suc- 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 234 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 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 indicatedtothe 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 thatcanbetakenbytheSpeaker. Sources said both TDP chief NChandrababu NaiduandJD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumarhave“soundedout “ some of the other allies of the BJP regarding the Speaker post move. Jaipur CONG ALLIES GET THREE SEATS After 10 yrs of drawing a blank in Rajasthan, Cong wins eight seats HAMZA KHAN JAIPUR, JUNE 4 AFTER BEING wiped out from Rajasthan in two straight Lok Sabha elections, the Congress has breached the BJP stronghold and surpassed its own expectations in the process. Rajasthan had given all 25 Lok Sabha seats to the BJP and the NDA in 2014 and 2019, respectively. This time, Congress won eight seats and its three alliance partners were victorious in a seat each. The BJP swept up the remaining 14. The last time Congress wona Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan was in 2009, when it won 20 seats andthepartyformedthesecond UPA government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. While the official stance of the Congress was that it would win 12-13 seats, its leaders were hopeful of winning 5-6 seats. Poll punters, too, were willing to give Congress a maximum of seven seats on its own. Although final figures were yet to come in, compared to 2019, BJP registered a vote share dipof around9percent,withthe Congress-led alliance. The BJP was banking on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s appeal, the Ram Temple construction, removal of Article 370 fromJammuandKashmir,aperceptionabout India’s“powerful” image abroad, rallies by party heavyweights and a consolidation of its power through inductions from other parties. The Congress, meanwhile, was relying on Jat anger against