PM Modi must take moral responsibility and resign: Congress on LS polls

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Jairam Ramesh said that the INDIA bloc's better-than-expected performance was a sign that it was time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resign from his post

As the counting of votes continued on Tuesday, June 4, Congress demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reaction to the vote tally of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, which showed the INDIA bloc securing more than 200 seats.

In a post on X (Twitter),  Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the INDIA bloc's better-than-expected performance was a sign that it was time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resign from his post.

Ramesh claimed that the Prime Minister must take "moral responsibility" for the Bharatiya Janata Party's potential loss of seats and leave his top position.

"He used to pretend to be unprecedented. Now it has been proved that the outgoing Prime Minister is going to be a former PM. Take moral responsibility and resign. This is the message of this election," Ramesh said.

Data from the Election Commission of India (ECI) showed that BJP was ahead in 236 seats. A party or coalition requires 272 seats to form a majority in the Lower House of Parliament.

Meanwhile, Congress was leading in 99 seats, Samajwadi Party (SP) in 37 seats and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 31 seats. Altogether the INDIA bloc is leading in more than 200 seats. This is more than the expected results according to several exit polls released on Saturday.

What did the exit polls say?

The majority of exit poll data for the  Lok Sabha elections in 2024 predicted the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to retain the majority with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm. At least two exit polls expected NDA to surpass the 400-seat mark, as targeted by the Prime Minister at the beginning of the electoral process.

Other exit polls predicted the BJP to have a clear majority, with other NDA members securing seats in the double-digits.  

The ruling alliance was expected to make inroads in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and sweep Karnataka, while some northern states, namely Bihar, Rajasthan, and Haryana, were expected to see a fall in the number of seats compared to 2019.

Overall, exit polls expected Narendra Modi, 73, to become Prime Minister for his third term, a feat only previously accomplished by India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Following the release of the exit poll data, PM Modi made a series of posts on X, stating that the people of India have voted to re-elect NDA. He also slammed the "opportunistic INDI Alliance''.

Modi said, "I can say with confidence that the people of India have voted in record numbers to re-elect the NDA government."

"The opportunistic INDI Alliance failed to strike a chord with the voters. They are casteist, communal and corrupt," he added.