New Delhi: As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest party after the declaration of results of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on June 4, its expectation of bagging 400-plus seats could not see light of the day. The BJP claimed victory on 240 Lok Sabha seats out of 543 whereas Congress improved its national tally to 99.

The saffron party failed to open its account in several states, including Tamil Nadu. The state saw great efforts by the party to woo the voters by fielding 19 candidates in the elections but to no avail. The BJP could win even a single seat in the state, leaving the power to rest with the regional parties – DMK and AIADMK.

Setback for BJP in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu witnessed a high decibel campaign with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting multiple times to hold rallies and roadshows.

The party had also relied on K Annamalai, its candidate from Coimbatore, who managed to get considerable attention in the state traditionally divided between the AIADMK and DMK but he also lost to DMK’s Ganapathy Rajkumar by a margin of over 1,14,000 votes. While Rajkumar secured 5,53,470 votes, Annamalai got 4,39,168 votes, as per the latest ECI data.

Setback for BJP in Northeast

With prospects of improving its vote share in the Northeast, top BJP brass had carried out a high-voltage campaign in the northeastern states but it could register victories in only three out of the seven states. The BJP tally stood at zero in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim.  

In Manipur, Congress cemented its hold by winning both the Lok Sabha seats namely Outer Manipur and Inner Manipur. In the Inner Manipur seat, Angomcha Bimol Akoijam defeated his nearest rival Thounaojam Basantakumar of the BJP by 1,09,801 votes.

While in Mizoram, ZPM candidate Richard Vanlalhmangaiha won the lone Lok Sabha seat by 68,288 votes.

In Nagaland, Chumben Murry of the NDPP, a BJP ally, lost to Congress candidate S Supongmeren Jamir by a margin of 50,984 votes.

In Sikkim, SKM candidate Indra Hang Subba clenched the lone Lok Sabha seat in the state while BJP's Dinesh Chandra Nepal stod at fifth spot with 19,035 votes, less than what Independent candidate Laten Tshering Sherpa bagged- 21,263 votes.