How the Results of the Lok Sabha Election of 2024 were Received by Foreign Media?

As the BJP suffered setbacks, international media brought attention to Modi's possible political downfall, with detractors raising worries about deteriorating institutions and press freedom.

Following the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) victory in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was showered with praise on Tuesday in New Delhi by Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and JP Nadda, National President of the BJP.

In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) surpassed the majority threshold of 272 seats to become the largest alliance. The saffron party, however, fell short of its target of over 400 seats with its partners and 370 seats on its own.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is running for a third term in a row and its third consecutive single-party majority, has gained 240 seats, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

As a result, the Congress, the biggest opposition party with 99 seats, trailed well behind the saffron party. Nevertheless, after winning 282 seats in 2014, the BJP lost 63 seats in comparison to its 2019 total. In the meanwhile, the number of seats held by the Congress increased by 55 and 47 from 2014 to 2019.

This is how international media responded

1) Washington Post: "In his 23-year political career, the populist prime minister has won landslide victories and never failed to secure a majority in state or national elections." However, Modi appears to be having a political setback right now. However, preliminary election results indicate very moderate backing for his Hindu nationalist party, shattering the aura of unstoppability around the most powerful Indian leader in decades."

2) New York Times: "Narendra Modi's seemingly unstoppable aura has been shaken...On Tuesday, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party was about to lose its Ayodhya parliamentary seat. It was part of a sweeping electoral setback across Uttar Pradesh state, India’s most populous, where early results showed the B.J.P. was set to fall nearly 30 seats short of its tally in the last general election in 2019."

3) Dawn: The Pakistan-based media portal covered the Lok Sabha Election 2024 Result with a headline "India vote count shows Modi alliance winning surprisingly narrow majority". “BJP concedes defeat in Ayodhya where Ram Temple was inaugurated; Rahul Gandhi says voters have punished BJP.’ Notably, BJP losing the Faisalabad seat in Uttar Pradesh, the constituency that houses the saffron party's prestigious project- Ayodhya Ram Mandir, has come as a shock to many," the strap read.

4) Al Jazeera: "The parliament is going to face challenges." He will undoubtedly have to make a lot of compromises because there will be laws that need to be approved. When he held a massive majority in the past, he was uncompromising. An expert told the news organization, "He always presented himself as somebody very strong who will not compromise." 

5) Financial Times: "A return to coalition politics would be the outcome." With a campaign mostly centred on his character and an election considered as a referendum on his ten years in government, many Indians had anticipated a resounding Modi win ", the report stated. 

6) BBC: "His supporters contend that he is a capable leader who has kept his word. Critics claim that his administration has undermined federal institutions, suppressed journalistic freedom and dissent, and created a sense of fear among India's Muslim minority."