The recently concluded Lok Sabha elections which have concretised the prophecy of BJP Nationalist Leader Narendra Modi returning as the Prime Minister of India for a third term is nothing more than natural progression of the spread of Lok Sabha seats which have been stipulated in Article 81 of the Constitution of India 1949 which has specified maximum strength of members of parliament in the Lok Sabha to be 552.
Hence, Article 81 envisages that the number of members of parliament is distributed among the States in such a way that the ratio between the number of seats allotted to each State and the population of the State is, so far as practicable, the same for all States.
Resultantly, Modi 3.0 which has been the campaign bugle for the BJP’s 2024 LS Polls may not be charming in its entirety and even in Modi’s own words, spoken at the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Meet on the 7th of June, 2024: “No pre-poll alliance ever experienced success like NDA”.
This collaborative spirit reflected in the ethos and motivation of the BJP Leader demonstrates a gratefulness to be there at the helm despite the onerous responsibility to operate the coalition government as a well oiled machine of nationalistic output.
According to Sarah Shamim of Al Jazeera News in her news Article titled: Election results: How have India’s past coalition governments fared? Published on 7th June, 2024:
“Narendra Modi is likely to return as India’s prime minister for a third term but will have to rely on allies to run a coalition government for the first time after his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fell short of a majority...Modi led the BJP to landslide victories in the 2014 and 2019 elections, winning 283 and 303 respectively, becoming the dominant leader of the world’s largest democracy.”
But speaking from memory of the Lok Sabha’s historical origins, the Biography upon the life of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the movie titled: Main Atal Hoon (2024), starring Pankaj Tripathi, it can be surmised that this would not be the first time that the Hindu nationalist BJP party shall be heading a coalition government. The first coalition government had been formed in 1996, which was a coalition headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It lasted just for 13 days. Later Vajpayee returned as prime minister with the backing of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 1998.
As Simran Kaur (2024) of ‘Y20 India’ has niftily penned the foreseeable scalability of the upcoming coalition government in her article entitled: ‘Modi 3.0: The BJP Likely to Retain Top Ministries...’
“With the recent Lok Sabha election results denying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a clear majority, the political landscape in India has entered a phase of intense negotiations. The BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is preparing to form the government for the third consecutive term, but this time with significant bargaining from its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies. Key players such as N Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal-United (JDU) have emerged as kingmakers, demanding prominent roles in the new government.”
And the signs of competitive power sharing strategies would always be intangible to the public’s eye, nevertheless these struggles are bound to exist in a coalition government just as it is already becoming evident that the “Modi 3.0’s 100-day agenda may see some tweaks with Chandrababu Naidu, Nitish Kumar in mind” Surabhi (2024).
According to Economy Editor Surabhi at Business Today in her article published on the Business Today website on 6 June, 2024:
“According to sources, the-100 day agenda that was prepared by administrative ministries may also be tweaked based on the focus areas of the new government after taking feedback from the allies. Both the TDP, as well as JD (U), are expected to provide inputs on the 100-day agenda.”
Further, the 100 days agenda would foresee that “However, many of these Bills may be taken up later in the coming months as the new BJP-led NDA government, formed with the help of allies such as TDP and the JD(U), will have its own set of priorities.” Surabhi (2024).
Therefore, in the words of Sarah Shamim (2024) which observes that analysts commented about the shock 2024 LS poll results, which saw BJP winning 240 seats “ 32 short of a majority “ would dent Modi’s aura and could force the 73-year-old leader to change his style of governance, which will now be partly dictated by coalition partners.
Could it be estimated that the present coalition government which is about to be formed could inherently incept the dilution of dominance that once vested entirely in the charm of a single leader who earlier was able to secure 283 seats during the 2014 and 303 seats during the 2019 elections respectively.
Could this change in the style of democratic reasoning now present itself replete with invisible strings that lie firmly knotted to the fingers of alliance partners in this grand theatre of salvaging Indian democratic values?
Or perhaps, Democracy has been saved by the pragmatic virtue of constitutionalism imbibed in universal adult suffrage conferred upon the electorate of India?
Evidently, the I.N.D.I.A. Alliance has garnered a significant lead quickly making inroads into the hamlets of India’s electorates expressing silent and knowledgeable dissent by making their votes count.
