How Narendra Modi won the right to become PM, round after round

Narendra Modi landed solid punches through the 10 rounds of the Lok Sabha elections, comfortably making the transition from Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial nominee to India’s prime minister designate.

Narendra Modi landed solid punches through the 10 rounds of the Lok Sabha elections, comfortably making the transition from Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial nominee to India’s prime minister designate.



The BJP and its allies swept the polls, but that was the sideshow. The game’s spotlight was entirely on Modi by design. He had made himself the main event.



After the final bell, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had mopped up 336 of the 543 seats and Modi was the last man standing, having the last laugh.



Numbers show it never was a contest. Barring one round for Mizoram’s lone seat, the Modi-led BJP knocked the stuffing out of the incumbent Congress and every other rival.



The NDA scored massively in all the big rounds, when a large number of seats were at stake. Here is a look at the lopsided scorecard, round by round.



The NDA's progress from round 1 to round 10, mapped in colour, gives an idea of the extent of its sweeping win. Click on the constituencies to see the NDA winners. The BJP's tally on its own is 282.