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543 of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha[a] 272 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Registered | 834,082,814 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 66.44% ( 8.23pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results by constituency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha.[1] With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 election. Around 23.1 million or 2.71% of the total eligible voters were aged 18–19 years.[2] A total of 8,251 candidates contested the 543 elected Lok Sabha seats.[3] The average election turnout over all nine phases was around 66.40%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections until 2019 election.[3]
The results were declared on 16 May, 15 days before the 15th Lok Sabha completed its constitutional mandate on 31 May 2014.[4] The counting exercise was held at 989 counting centers.[3] The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received 31% of the vote and won 282 seats, while its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won a total of 336 seats. Although the Indian National Congress (INC) was defeated by a landslide, the BJP's vote share was the lowest by a party winning a majority of seats since independence,[5] The BJP won 31.2% votes, while NDA's combined vote share was 38.5%. However, the governing coalition had the largest majority since the 1984 elections, and it was the first time since 1984 that a party had won enough seats to govern without the support of other parties.[6][7][8]
In contrast, the result was the worst-ever performance by the Indian National Congress (INC), which had ruled India for most of its post-independence history. The INC received 19.3% of the vote and won only 44 seats, with its wider alliance, the United Progressive Alliance, winning a total of just 59.[9][10][11] In order to become the official opposition party in India, a party must have 55 seats; as a result, there was no official opposition party.[12][13]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ "India General Elections 2014". mapsofindia.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
- ^ "39% of first-time voters back BJP, only 19% vote for Congress". Dnaindia.com (22 October 2013). Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
- ^ a b c "Election 2014 live blog". 15 May 2014. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ "Terms of Houses, Election Commission of India". Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- ^ "BJP's 31% lowest vote share of any party to win majority". The Times of India. 19 May 2014. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
- ^ "Why Kanhaiya's statement that 69% of India voted against PM Modi is flawed and utterly wrong". 9 April 2016. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
- ^ Modi's Next Moves Archived 12 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine The Wall Street Journal, 18 May 2014
- ^ "Election results 2014: India places its faith in Moditva". The Times of India. 17 May 2014. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
- ^ "Final Results 2014 General Elections". Press Information Bureau, Government of India. Archived from the original on 27 October 2014.
- ^ "General Election to Loksabha Trend and Result 2014". Election Commission of India. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
- ^ "Partywise Trends & Result". Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
- ^ "India's Congress rejects Gandhis' resignation despite worst ever defeat". The Daily Telegraph. 19 May 2014. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- ^ "Modi wave wipes out UPA cabinet, Congress records its worst defeat in Lok Sabha polls". 17 May 2014. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2015.