General Elections 2024 surprised many with the kind of results it has thrown up. While the ruling BJP were disappointed they did not get to 300 on their own and not even the cut-off mark of 272, the Congress was pleasantly surprised to get closer to 100. If one has followed the entire campaign ever since the dates were announced, the response to meetings, the opinion polls, the exit polls, no one expected this kind of a verdict. Many media houses and political parties themselves have tried to give their own conclusions and inferences either to satisfy themselves or to give reasons for the outcome. However, if you see it closely, there is a definite message from the voter to the elected representatives and their parties. 

Let us take the case of only Lok Sabha Polls: NDA was targetting 400+ but ended up less than 300. Why?

1. The voters wanted a Party or a group of parties to form a stable govt. and work towards the betterment of their lives. However, the ruling alliance projected only One person and projected him as the only power centre. The opposition luckily did not announce any PM candidate and that helped them project a united group. That tilted the vote in their favour. The message was - Govt. is to be run by a group of persons, not by One man
2. The Temple at Ayodhya was taken as the major achievement of the govt. rather than any other developments. The common man did not get anything from this. His life did not change and he had no involvement in it. So the voter just ignored this aspect. The message was - to do something with impacts the common man
3. In the last 10 years, there were no major investments and anything which would have come in has gone to one state. People from other states got peeved by this and felt they needed to be looked after also. Hence they elected people whom they felt would serve their cause. The message - India is a country with 29 states not just one. Work towards developing every state, not only one
4. While the leader was talking negatively about Freebies and Dynastic politics, his party manifesto was full of promises and the party had to align with regional parties which are known for dynastic politics. The voters saw this as a double standard and voted against it. The message - practise what you preach.
5. Dethroning democratically elected governments and engineering splits did not go well with the voters. The message was - to respect democracy

At the state level, voters saw two factors before voting - stability and development. The way they voted the existing parties out of power in AP and Odisha showed how unhappy the voters were with them. Voting back the existing parties in Sikkim and Arunachal was a mix of both being ok with the present party and the lack of a challenger in the opposition ranks.

It can be concluded that the voters all over the country voted with a lot of thought and wisdom and gave clear messages for parties to ponder before the next time they seek votes.

.    .    .