2019 Lok Sabha Election Results: NDA storms Assam winning 10 seats while UPA manages 2

With the all-important Lok Sabha polls concluding in the  world's largest democracy on Thursday, 1.3 billion citizens of India including an estimated 900 million-strong electorate now await the formation of the 17th Lok Sabha  with the 542 (the Vellore polls were countermanded) newly elected members to the lower house of India's Parliament and consequently, the process of forming the next government of India will enter its final stage. 

After the thrilling counting day on May 23 which ended in a huge triumph for the NDA and commencement of the formation of Modi Sarkar 2.0, Republic Media Network  presents the results which ended in Prime Minister Narendra Modi getting re-elected and the NDA leading a clear majority of 354 seats while the UPA suffered a blow managing to garner 95 seats, as of 11:30 PM. 

Results 2019 Lok Sabha:

In Assam, the battle was fought between the NDA alliance, the UPA alliance, the AlUDF and the BDF for the 14 Lok Sabha seats up for grabs resulting in a strong victory for NDA winning 10 seats while UPA won 2 seats.

Sunday Exit poll predictions:

Republic Media Network called the result on Sunday projecting an NDA win in  with country's biggest exit poll - the double exit poll in collaboration with the nation's biggest pollsters Jan Ki Baat and CVoter - which presented a projection including granular projections from each of the states and union territories.

CVOTER:
Vote Share:

The NDA was projected to lead the pack garnering 40.2% of the votes. The UPA was projected to trail closely with 36% of the votes, while the AIUDF was projected to gain 4% of the votes and other parties were projected to garner 19.8% of the votes.

NDA: 40.2%
UPA: 36%
AIUDF: 4%
Others: 19.8%

Seat Share:
In terms of seats, the NDA was predicted to win 8 seats, while the UPA was predicted to win in 5 seats and the AIUDF was projected to win 1 seat.
NDA: 8 seats
UPA: 5 seats
AIUDF: 1 seat

JAN KI BAAT:
Seat share:
In terms of seats, the NDA was projected to win 7-8 seats, while the UPA was projected to win 3-4 seats, BDF was set to win 0-1 seat and others are set to win 1 seat
NDA: 7-8 seats
UPA: 3-4 seats
BDF: 0-1 seat
Others: 1 seat

Poll campaign and issues:

The BJP which faced a backlash in the aftermath of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (2016) from local Assamese groups had to tackle the ire of the state as its ally AGP walked out on it. While the Bill passed the Lok Sabha, it expired in the Rajya Sabha. 

To attract its disgruntled Assamese supporters, the BJP campaigned on another bill to give special status of Scheduled Tribes (ST) to six tribes in the state.

These issues plague the Tea-majority state which was swept by the saffron party by strategic local alliances in the state first in 2014.

Key battles in Assam: 

Dibrugarh: Tea estate workers constitute a major part of the population here. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonawal's home constituency from 2004 to 2009, will see a battle between BJP's sitting MP Rameshwar Teli and Congress' Paban Singh Ghatowar who belongs to the tea tribe-community.

Gauhati: This semi-urban constituency which consists of the state capital Guwahati has a major Muslim population as well as a considerable SC/ST population. Here the battle is between BJP's Queen Oja and Congress' Bobbeeta Sharma. The anti-NRC agitation is a major concern for the BJP here due to its sizable minority population.

Tezpur: The rural population dominates this region with a major Gorkha population residing here. Whether BJP's #MainBhiChowkidar campaign will affect this particular community is to be seen as BJP's Pallab Lochan faces Congress' M G V K Bhaanu. 

Historical trend:

In the 2014 General elections, Assam had a voter turnout of 79.9% in all phases, in which the NDA won 7 seats, while the UPA won 3 seats, the AIUDF won 3 seats and the others won 1 seat.  

The last two Assembly elections (126 seats) are seen to follow an increasing trend for the NDA as it increased its win from 11 to 60 seats during 2016. While the voter turnout had increased considerably in 2016 from 75.9% to 83.9%, the UPA diminished its foothold as its seat share fell from 78 seats to 26 seats in 2016 as the saffron party focused more on local leadership and turned the anti-incumbency in its favour naming Sarbananda Sonowal as its chief ministerial candidate.

In 2019, Assam has witnessed an average voter turnout of 77% in its three poll phases.

Recent political developments:

February saw major agitation in Assam opposing the BJP's amendment to the Citizenship Bill (2016) which granted Indian citizenship by naturalisation to communities such as Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs, fleeing persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Citizenship would be granted to those who have lived in India for six or more years. While the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha triggering huge protests throughout the north-east region, the bill expired in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP does not hold the required numbers. 

On a national scale:

The 2019 elections saw high-octane electric campaigning from both sides as the BJP went hammer and tongs, expressing confidence at each turn that it would not only repeat but also better its tally of 282 votes from five years earlier, whereas the Congress and other Opposition parties,  also campaigned heavily though without being able to make any convincing show of unity. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking a second term in the Parliament, addressed a total of 144 rallies and roadshows this election season, Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed 125 rallies in the 2019 polls.

A number of Republic Media Network newsbreaks especially set the agenda for the polls, including the first interview of the Prime Minister's election campaign to Republic's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and his final campaign interview to Executive Editor Abhishek Kapoor. Alongside these were the sensational #MPsOnSale sting on sitting MPs who showed themselves willing to compromise the interests of those whom they claim to represent, the Operation Karz Maafi sting that exposed the falsehood in the Congress' farm loan-waiver promise, and numerous others.