Election Results highlights: Modi to be sworn-in as PM at 7.15 pm on June 9

JD(S) MP-elect HD Kumaraswamy arrives in Delhi for the NDA MPs' meeting.

He says, "We are all with him (PM Modi), we are joining hands with only NDA. Not only me but the entire country has a lot of expectations from PM Modi regarding developments, several problems have to be solved...There is no demand at all...Stable government is required for the country, for that we are joining hands with him..."

When asked about reports of demands from allies of NDA, he says, "Ultimately, everybody will agree."

Two days after winning the West Tripura Parliamentary constituency seat with the highest winning margin in any Lok Sabha poll in the history of Tripura, former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said he would keep 'rozgar of youths' ( employment for youths) in top priority for his journey ahead and said youths need to be upskilled in different sectors for development.

" I am collecting people's feedback. People need employment. I can't do everything as many of these things would require some facilities that are unavailable in Tripura. But Tripura can witness two big things - medical tourism and spiritual tourism", he said while speaking to HT.

Biplab Kumar Deb won the Parliamentary elections from West Tripura constituency with a margin of 6,11,578 votes over his nearest contestant and opposition INDIA bloc partner Congress candidate Ashish Kumar Saha.

Newly elected MPs of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will meet on Friday to elect Narendra Modi as their leader, paving the way for him to take oath as prime minister for a third term.

The swearing-in is likely to be held on Sunday, sources said.

After Modi is elected the leader of NDA MPs, senior members of the alliance like TDP's N Chandrababu Naidu, JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar and Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde will join the prime minister for a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu to present her the list of parliamentarians supporting him, some alliance members said.

He may be sworn in over the weekend, likely Sunday, they added.

The NDA has 293 MPs, comfortably above the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

Tazeen Fatima, the wife of jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, has hit out at the party's newly elected MP from Rampur Mohibullah Nadvi over his recent remarks against Khan.

Talking to reporters on Tuesday, Nadvi, who won the Rampur seat with a margin of almost 90,000 votes, had said, "People are sent to jail for correction. Jail is a correctional facility and I can only pray for Azam Khan."

Reacting to Nadvi's remarks, Fatima on Thursday said, "He (Nadvi) should have not made such a statement. It shows that he has a lot of experience about going to jails."

For the Rampur seat, the SP had picked Delhi-based cleric Nadvi, ignoring Asim Raja, a favourite of party stalwart Khan -- currently lodged in Sitapur jail after being convicted in multiple cases.

Fatima, who was also lodged in Rampur jail following her conviction in a fake birth certificate case, was released on bail last month.

TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu chaired a meeting with his party MPs at his residence in Vijayawada.

After the meeting on Thursday, the newly elected TDP MP from Bapatla, Krishna Prasad Tenneti, expressed his excitement and gratitude for the opportunity to serve.

Talking about the meeting Tenneti said, "He did a coordination meeting with all the MPs and also traced out the history of how TDP has been committed to the welfare and development of the people and what kind of role we had been playing in national politics, particularly he played a very important role in the national politics with NDA."

"Many of us got elected for the first time. Like me, I got elected for the first time," Tenneti added.

Chandrababu Naidu reached Delhi on Thursday to meet with top BJP leaders. He will be in the national capital to attend a meeting of NDA partners, scheduled to take place at the central hall of the Parliament on Friday.

With the Lok Sabha polls getting over, Assam will now witness bypolls to five assembly and two Rajya Sabha seats within the next six months.

Two sitting Rajya Sabha MPs, union minister and former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Kamakhya Prasad Tasa (both from Bharatiya Janata Party), and five MLAs including a cabinet minister have won this time from the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Sonowal had won the assembly election from Majuli in May 2021, but after he was denied a second consecutive term as chief minister in favour of Himanta Biswa Sarma, he shifted to the Rajya Sabha in September that year and was included in the Narendra Modi cabinet

as a minister for ports and shipping.

In this Lok Sabha election, Sonowal contested from Dibrugarh and defeated Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi, who was the consensus candidate from the INIDA bloc, by a margin of 279,321 votes. The 61-year-old is expected to secure a cabinet

berth in the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government one more time.

Chhattisgarh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan expressed confidence in Narendra Modi securing a third term as Prime Minister ahead of the scheduled meeting of NDA partners on Friday.

NDA meeting will take place at the central hall of the Parliament today.

"In the entire world, the people knew that PM Modi would come as the Prime Minister for the third time. The country expected and the people expected that Narendra Modi will become the PM," Harichandan said.

As per the sources, discussions will be held on government formation by the grand alliance. This comes after the NDA crossed the majority mark bagging 293 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. However, the BJP managed to secure only 240 seats, much lower than its 2019 tally.

Deputy Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Arun Sao, confirmed the party's plans and said that several meetings will be held today.

Karnataka’s scheduled tribes welfare minister B Nagendra on Thursday resigned from his post following allegations of his involvement in illegal diversion of large sum of funds from a state-run tribal development corporation into private bank accounts.

He handed over his resignation to chief minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday night in the presence of deputy CM and state Congress president DK Shivakumar. “I am voluntarily resigning from the post of minister,” read the one-line resignation letter. Read more

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections across 25 parliamentary seats in Rajasthan, 2,79,464 voters chose the 'None of the Above' (NOTA) option, indicating their dissatisfaction with the available candidates. However, this figure reflects a decline compared to the previous two elections held in 2019 and 2014.

However, what stands out prominently is the significant NOTA turnout in tribal-dominated areas, particularly in the Udaipur and Banswara parliamentary constituencies. In both 2014 and 2019, these constituencies witnessed the highest number of NOTA votes, indicating a deep-seated discontent among voters.

In 2014, 26,685 voters in Udaipur and 34,404 voters in Banswara chose NOTA, while in 2019, the numbers increased to 28,179 in Udaipur and 29,962 in Banswara. In the 2024 elections, this trend continued, with 22,948 voters opting for NOTA in Udaipur and 20,970 in Banswara.

Congress leader Sachin Pilot analyzed the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections and said that the electorate rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition in this election.

"People didn't accept BJP's campaign of 'Mandir Masjid', Hindu Muslim and 'Mangalsutra'. The central government adopted an attitude, especially against the opposition, such as targeting them, imprisoning elected Chief Ministers, and misusing agencies like the ED and CBI. All these actions have been rejected by the people," Pilot said.

Pilot emphasized that the electorate dismissed such polarizing tactics and instead inclined towards the Congress' inclusive manifesto and narrative.

"On the other hand, the Congress, whose numbers have now doubled, was better understood by the public in terms of our manifesto, our narrative, and our campaign. Double-engine has failed in Lucknow (UP), Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Haryana. I am thankful to the workers, leaders and candidates of Congress," Pilot said.

Rajasthan Minister on Thursday said that farmers' agitation, mistakes in ticket distribution and “misconception” created by Congress on BJP’s target of winning 400 seats in Lok Sabha elections were some factors behind the decline in number of BJP seats in Rajasthan.

“We could not break the misconception created by the opposition regarding our slogan of 400 plus seats. There was the impact of the farmers' movement and mistakes in ticket distribution. There were many things that had an impact,” said Jhabar Singh Kharra, UDH minister at the party office.

He said that the party will have to work harder now.

When asked about the accountability for defeat, he said that all the BJP workers take responsibility for the defeat.

“It is a collective responsibility, not an individual responsibility,” he said.

On indication by cabinet minister Kirodi Lal Meena to quit due to defeat of the party candidates on seats under his responsibility, Kharra said that it will be ensured that he remains in the cabinet.

Soon after the Mahayuti’s poor show in Maharashtra in the recent Lok Sabha elections, alliance partners have launched a blame-game against each other. The National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) tally nosedived to 17 in LS 2024 from 41 in 2019. The BJP won nine seats, Shiv Sena seven and NCP one. Read more

Even as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is all set to form the new government this weekend, fissures have surfaced within the party’s unit in West Bengal after the poll fiasco in the eastern state.

A section of the party’s state leaders has already spoken out against those who were in charge of the party in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls without naming any-one.

“Several BJP leaders had made secret pacts with TMC leaders. Else you can’t get this result. The secret understanding (between TMC and BJP leaders) were at the local level, district level and at the state level. Without this such a result can’t be explained,” Saumitra Khan who won from Bishnupur Lok Sabha seat with a BJP ticket, told media persons. He is a three-time MP.

While the count of BJP’s Lok Sabha seats dropped from 18 in 2019 to 12 in 2024, several sitting and former MPs, present and former Union ministers and senior leaders of the party, including Dilip Ghosh, Nisith Pramanik, Locket Chatterjee, Subhas Sarkar and Debasree Chaudhuri among others - were defeated.

National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah faced backlash for sharing an article which suggested that Engineer Abdul Rashid’s victory in Baramulla Lok sabha constituency “will empower secessionists”.

In a major setback, Abdullah lost to independent candidate Engineer Abdul Rashid, who has been lodged in Tihar Jail under UAPA charges, by 2.4 lakh votes.

Rashid, whose campaign was led by his sons, received 4.72 lakh votes while Omar got 2.68 lakh votes and People’s Conference chairperson Sajad Lone came third with 1.73 lakh votes.

On Wednesday, Abdullah shared a quote on ‘X’ from an article published in an online portal with the premise that Rashid’s win “will empower secessionists, and give Kashmir’s defeated Islamist movement a renewed sense of hope”.

Social media users reacted harshly for sharing the quote with one calling Omar a ‘sore loser’.

Two days after the defeat of BJD in the assembly election ending the 24-year-long tenure of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, three officers in the Odisha chief minister's office put in their papers on Thursday signalling a bigger purge in the state bureaucracy.

On Thursday, retired IAS officers R Balakrishnan, Suresh Chandra Mahapatra who served as chief advisor, Special Initiatives and chief advisor, Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) respectively resigned from their posts while principal secretary of IT and electronics department Manoj Mishra too put in his papers. The three officers were part of the CMO bureaucracy for quite some time.

Their resignations have been accepted by the General Administration & Public Grievance Department with effect from 5th June forenoon.

Balakrishnan, a 1984-batch IAS officer was appointed as chief advisor (Special Initiatives) in CMO in the rank of Chief Secretary with responsibilities that included looking after Special Development Councils, Tribal Museum, Craft Museum, Input to Heritage Cabinet, Odia University and Odia Virtual Academy. Balakrishnan’s appointment had come in for a lot of criticism over his proximity to erstwhile CM's private secretary VK Pandian. In August 2019, he was made chief advisor to chief minister.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shehzad Poonawalla strongly criticised the Congress and AAP alliance as a "friendship of selfishness."

Poonawalla's comments came in response to Delhi government minister and AAP leader Gopal Rai's announcement that there would be no alliance between the two parties in the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.

Gopal Rai stated on Thursday that the AAP would contest the Delhi assembly elections independently, without any alliance with the Congress. He emphasized that the alliance between the two parties was forged solely for the Lok Sabha polls and would not extend to the state elections.

Poonawalla criticized Rai's statement, highlighting the failure of the INDIA bloc, which had failed to secure any of the seven seats in Delhi.

"Gopal Rai has said that after they (INDIA alliance) have won 0 out of 7 seats in Delhi, there will be no alliance between the Congress party and AAP in the Assembly elections. This was only a friendship of selfishness. Now they will abuse each other in Delhi too. This is the real face of the INDI alliance," Poonawalla said on Thursday.

Negotiations to form the next Union government kicked into high gear on Thursday as allies jockeyed for crucial Cabinet berths a day ahead of a key National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting in the Capital that is expected to set the stage for a third term as Prime Minister for Narendra Modi. The second and third largest constituents of the NDA, the Telugu Desam Party and the Janata Dal (United), held meetings of their own as they finalised the list of demands even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda and Amit Shah called on Modi after meeting Rajnath Singh to discuss issues such as portfolio allocation. Read more

The BJP Bihar unit on Thursday announced that the NDA would contest the 2025 assembly polls in the state under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

“The NDA will contest the next assembly elections in Bihar under the CM’s leadership. We have started preparations for it,” Samrat Chaudhary, BJP state president-cum-deputy chief minister said on Thursday at party office after taking stock of party performance in polls.

The announcement comes after a not so good performance by the BJP in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls. BJP contested on 17 seats and won on 12, losing five seats. Nitish Kumar-led JD (U) contested 16 seats and emerged victorious in 12 while Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) won five and one seat each.

Kumar’s party JD-U, which was written off, has become crucial player for NDA government formation at the Centre as the BJP has failed to attain a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own.

After the Lok Sabha poll outcomes, the Congress on Thursday questioned Narendra Modi whether he would fulfil his promise of giving special category status to the states of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.

In the same breath, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Modi 3.0 government, saying it is "Modi 1/3 government".

In a video shared on X, Congress' general secretary posed four questions to the Prime Minister, saying he has four questions for the prime minister -- two for Andhra Pradesh and two for Bihar.

"Our four questions to the one-third Prime Minister who is going to be elected. 1. On 30 April 2014, in the holy city of Tirupati, you promised to give special status to Andhra Pradesh. Will that promise be fulfilled now? 2. Will you stop the privatization of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant now? 3. Will you fulfil your 2014 election promise and the ten-year-old demand of your ally Nitish Kumar by giving special state status to Bihar? 4. Do you promise to conduct a caste census in the entire country like Bihar?" senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on 'X'

Sangli parliamentarian Vishal Patil on Thursday extended his support to the Congress, taking the effective tally of the party to 100 even as it fixed two crucial meetings over the next two days that will shape its legislative and political agenda and take a call on naming the new Leader of Opposition (LoP).

Patil, the grandson of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantdada Patil, was with the Congress, but fought the elections as an independent after ally Uddhav Thackeray staked claim to the Sangli seat. He emerged victorious by around 100,000 votes. His inclusion helps the Congress effectively touch three figures for the first time in a decade after two dismal showings in 2014 and 2019.

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday held one-on-one talks with Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha in Delhi and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai, triggering speculations that the regional forces could be working on a strategy of their own while the National Democratic Alliance geared up to see Narendra Modi taking oath as Prime Minister for the third time.

Abhishek, 36, was sent to the INDIA coalition’s meeting in Delhi on Wednesday by his aunt and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the TMC chairperson, as her emissary.

After the meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced that the 27 partners of the coalition would play the role of a strong opposition and let the Bharatiya Janata Party form the government with its NDA partners.

On Thursday morning, Abhishek Banerjee, the TMC national general secretary, went to meet Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav at his residence in Delhi. Their meeting went on for around 45 minutes. None of the leaders disclosed their discussions before the media.

The swearing in ceremony of the first-ever BJP government in Odisha would be held on June 10 in Bhubaneswar's Janata Maidan, senior leaders of the party said on Thursday.

BJP leader and its spokesperson Sajjan Sharma said the swearing-in ceremony will be attended by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah along with chief ministers of several NDA-ruled states who campaigned for the party in the election.

During campaigning, Modi and other BJP leaders had announced that if BJP formed government, it would be sworn in on June 10.

BJP won 78 seats in the Odisha Assembly elections while two rebels of the party who contested as independent and won have decided to join the party raising the strength to 80 in the 147 member Odisha Assembly. The party won a little over 40 per cent of the total votes, a rise of nearly 8 per cent from what it had secured in 2019.

As questions hang over the future of Naveen Patnaik and the Biju Janata Dal after its poll debacle, several party leaders on Thursday said while Patnaik may not opt out of an active role in state politics and take up the role of Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, he may depute another leader to officiate on his behalf in key meetings and Assembly sittings.

Patnaik, whose reign as chief minister came to an end on June 5 after his party could win just 51 seats, less than half of what it had won in 2019 election in the 147-member assembly, on Wednesday held a meeting of his party MLAs in Naveen Niwas where he said his party would play the role of a constructive opposition. He asked the MLAs to serve the people of their constituency and the state. “We have worked hard to reduce poverty from 70% to 10%. Our efforts in agriculture, irrigation and women empowerment have led to this achievement,” he told his MLAs.

While political experts painted a gloomy future of BJD in view of lack of a second rung leadership and Patnaik's failing health, several party leaders said there was little danger of the party disintegrating in the near future.

BJD's organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Dash said everything in BJD runs as per the directions of Naveen Patnaik. "No one else other than Naveen babu has led the party. He was the topmost leader in the party and will remain so," he said.

The BJP on Thursday hit back at Rahul Gandhi's allegations relating to connection between "BJP, exit pollsters and dubious foreign investors" and accused the Congress leader of "conspiring to mislead market investors".

Addressing a press conference, Piyush Goyal said that the Congress leader "has still not overcome the opposition's defeat" in the Lok Sabha elections. Several opposition parties had come together to form the INDIA bloc to take on the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha polls.

Rahul Gandhi had alleged that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah had given "investment advice" to people during the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls and there was a loss of lakhs of crores to retail investors also due to "fake exit polls". He demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the "biggest stock market scam".

Vote share of national and state parties have witnessed a change in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls in Bihar as compared to the 2019 general polls with opposition INDIA bloc allies having increased its vote share as compared to NDA allies in this election. The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD) has scored higher vote percentage among major parties in the state as compared to 2019 polls.

In the ruling NDA, BJP, having contested 17 this election , has recorded 20.52% votes as compared 24.06% in 2019 polls when it had contested 17 seats only in alliance with partner JD(U) and other allies of NDA, as per election commission of India ( ECI) data. This is a dip by 3.54% from the last election in 2019. The BJP has won 12 seats this election.

Similarly, the JD(U), which contested 16 seats this election, has registered 18.52% vote share while in 2019, the party having contested 17 seats in alliance with BJP, had recorded 22.26 % vote share. This is again a dip by 3.74% as compared to the vote share of the party in 2019 polls. The JD(U) has won 12 seats this election.