Prime Minister Modi’s campaign slogan, “Abki baar 400 paar,” signaled an ambitious target for the upcoming election. However, early poll results suggest that the BJP may not reach the 350-seat mark, far short of the 400-seat goal.
In March, BJP’s Uttar Kannada MP Anantkumar Hegde stated that achieving over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections would facilitate the integration of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with India and the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code nationwide. He emphasized that this majority would also help the BJP gain a similar hold in the Rajya Sabha and control two-thirds of the states.
Historically, surpassing 400 seats in the Lok Sabha has been a rare feat. The only instance was in 1984 when the Congress, led by Rajiv Gandhi, won 404 seats following Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Even during the Congress’s dominance post-Independence, their highest tally was 371 seats in 1957, with more than 300 seats secured in 1951-52, 1957, 1962, and 1971. However, the party saw a significant drop to 154 seats in the post-Emergency election of 1977, before rebounding to 353 seats in 1980.
The 1984 elections also saw the Congress achieve the highest vote share for a single party at 48.12%. The closest prior result was in 1957 with 47.78% of the vote. Since 1984, no party has surpassed the 40% vote share mark, with the Congress coming closest in 1989 at 39.53%, followed by the BJP under Narendra Modi in 2019 with 37.7%.
