2019 Indian General Elections

General Elections were held in India in seven phases from 11th April to 19th
May to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and
the result was declared on 23rd May. Around 912 million people were eligible
to vote, and the voter turnout was over 67 percent (the highest ever, as well
as the highest ever participation by women voters). The Bhartiya Janta
Party received 37.36% of the vote, the highest vote share by a political party
since the 1989 general elections, and won 303 seats, further increasing its
substantial majority. In addition, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) won 353 seats. The Indian National Congress won 52 seats, failing to
get 10% of the seat needed to claim the post of Leader of Opposition.
Functions Of General Elections
• The mainstay of a democratic society.
• Educating citizens about national and international issues.
• Showing citizens limits of their own political authority.
• Operating the principle of general welfare.
• Elections helps to solve the problem of succession in leadership and thus
contributes to the continuation of democracy.
Electoral system
• All 543 elected MPs are elected from single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post
voting. The President of India appoints an additional two members from the Anglo-Indian
community if he believes that community is under-represented.

• Eligible voters must be Indian citizens, 18 or older than 18, an ordinary resident of the
polling area of the constituency and registered to vote (name included in the electoral rolls),
possess a valid voter identification card issued by the Election Commission of India or an
equivalent. Some people convicted of electoral or other offences are barred from voting.

• The elections are held on schedule and as per the Constitution of India that mandates
parliamentary elections once every five years.
 Manifesto
BJP
The BJP released its manifesto sub-titled Sankalpit Bharat,
Sashakt Bharat.
• Double farmer incomes by 2022 by completing all
major and micro-irrigation infrastructure projects.
• Bring all secondary schools under the national board
quality purview. Invest ₹100,000 crore (US$13 billion)
in higher education.
• Privatization of defense, space and agriculture sector for
development of India.
• Zero tolerance for terrorism, fund resources to
strengthen national security, guarantee veterans, and
soldier welfare, modernize police forces.
• End special status and special rights to natives of Jammu
and Kashmir under Article 370 and 35A
Congress
The Congress released its manifesto, titled Congress Will
Deliver.
• Introduce a  Nyuntam Aay Yojana welfare program
wherein ₹72,000 (US$960) per year will be transferred
directly to the bank account of a woman-member in each
family in the poorest 20 percent households.
• Double spending on education to 6 percent of its GDP
by 2024.
• Increase defense spending.
• Revise the national GST law from three tax tiers to a
single moderate rate of tax. Reduce taxes on exported
products to zero. Enact a new Direct Taxes Code.
• Preserve special status and special rights to natives of
Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and 35A.
Opinion polling
Various organizations have carried out opinion polling to gauge voting intentions in India. The ECI banned the release of exit
polls from 11 April to 19 May, the last phase of the elections. The commission also banned the publication or broadcast in the
media of predictions made by astrologers and tarot card readers.
Issues
Allegations of undermining institutions
The opposition parties accused the NDA government of destroying democratic
institutions and processes. Modi denied these allegations, and blamed Congress and
the communists for undermining institutions including the police, the CBI, and the
CAG, and cited the murder of BJP activists in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. The
Congress party, along with other opposition parties and a group of retired civil
servants, accused the ECI of being compromised, and implied that they endorsed the
model code of conduct violations by Narendra Modi and other BJP political leaders
during their campaigns. Another group of 81 retired civil servants, judges and
academics disputed these allegations, made counter-allegations, and stated that the
ECI acted fairly and similarly in alleged violations by either side. The group stated
that such political attacks on the ECI were a "deliberate attempt to denigrate and
delegitimise the democratic institutions".
 Economic performance
The major economic achievements of the incumbent NDA government included
• An inflation rate less than 4 per cent, the GST reform, and the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Code.
• Its programs, in recent years, that have positively touched many among the Indian
masses, include the Jan Dhan Yojana, rural cooking gas and electricity for homes.
• According to the IMF, its GDP growth rate is among the highest in the world for
major economies, and India is expected to be the fastest growing major economy
in 2019–2020 and 2020–2021, with real GDP projected to grow at 7.3 per cent.
• Modi claims that his government pursued demonetization in the national interest,
his government has identified and de-registered 338,000 shell companies,
identified and recovered ₹130,000 crore (US$17 billion) in black money since
2014, and almost doubled India's tax.
Results of the 2019 Indian general election

• To constitute India's 17th Lok Sabha, general elections were held in April–May
2019. The results were announced on 23 May 2019. The main contenders were
two alliance groups of the Incumbent National Democratic Alliance and the
Opposition United Progressive Alliance; led by Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian
National Congress respectively. The 2019 Indian general election has been the
Largest Democratic exercise in History so far, with around 912 million eligible
voters.
• The Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA won the elections with the BJP itself winning a clear
majority. The BJP became the single largest party in the House and surpassed expectations to
win 303 seats, with its alliance partners bringing the NDA to a total of 353 seats. Reasons
attributed to the victory included the personal popularity of Narendra Modi, effective voter
turnout drives by the NDA, a surge in public nationalism following the Pulwama attack, the
consolidation of Hindu voters in a multi-caste coalition and the successful implementation of
social welfare programs during the First Modi ministry's term.

• The counting of votes was held on 23 May 2019, and was completed early the following day.
Initial returns showed the BJP leading in all 303 constituencies it eventually won, and
opposition leader Rahul Gandhi conceded defeat prior to the official certification of most
results.
 Thank you

• By : Shrestha, Tanya, Mayank, Ashutosh, Diksha