Ayodhya to Kashmir to Kanyakumari: Key milestones of Lok Sabha election 2024

Lok Sabha Election 2024: On January 22, 2024, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked a milestone in India's socio-political history by helming over the consecration of Ram Temple in northern India's Ayodhya, it appeared to set the ground for General Elections later in the summer. Weeks later, on February 5, 2024, in his nearly 100-minute reply to the motion of thanks to the President’s address, the prime minister talked about "Modi’s guarantee" — a catchphrase the Bharatiya Janata Party deployed all across India to brand PM Modi's political promises while campaigning for a record third consecutive term in power.

"This country will definitely give NDA more than 400 seats and the BJP at least 370 seats," PM Modi said in parliament on Feb 5 in a moment that rang the bell of General Elections across the party lines.

A little over a month later, on March 7, 2024, PM Modi addressed a rally in Srinagar for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370. "Main dil jeetne aaya hu (I have come to win over hearts)," Modi said in a speech at Srinagar's Bakshi stadium, which unlike his addresses later on during election campaign, was entirely pitched on the plank of development of Jammu and Kashmir.

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Even before the Election Commission of India had announced the official schedule of 18th Lok Sabha elections — on March 16, 2024 — the BJP under Modi had managed to establish the purported success of two of its core ideological convictions: the abrogation of Article 370 and construction of Ram Temple at the Hindu deity's birthplace in Ayodhya.

From Left to Right: Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on Jan 22, 2024; inside Lok Sabha on Feb 5, 2024; and at Srinagar's Bakshi stadium on March 7, 2024 | Agencies

As the election campaign gathered steam and PM Modi tried to steerhis way through to claim a third term in power, a united Opposition led a formidable campaign. While facing stumbles on the potholed road of politics, the Opposition — under leaders such as Arvind Kejriwal — often returned to the driving seat of India's election vehicle this summer.

Here's what the key milestones of 18th Lok Sabha elections looked like:

Nitish Kumar's return to NDA

On Feb 8, 2024, the Opposition led by Congress party was taken aback by its first key setback from the eastern state of Bihar, where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal (United) — the fulcrum of Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) — returned to the tent of BJP-led National Development Alliance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at an event in Begusarai, Bihar on March 2, 2024 | X/@NitishKumar

The BJP under PM Modi succeeded in courting a former ally from a state that remains deeply divided on caste lines.

Arvind Kejriwal's arrest

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate after not responding to nine summons from the central agency in connection with the Delhi liquor policy money laundering case. Kejriwal's arrest was widely condemned by Opposition parties.

Also watch |Gravitas | Kejriwal jailed less than 3 weeks before voting begins | WION

On March 31, 2024, 'INDIA' bloc rallied at Delhi's historic Ramlila Maidan alongside Sunita Kejriwal and Kalpana Soren — the spouses of arrested leaders Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

Former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren's spouse Kalpana Soren, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's spouse Sunita Kejriwal alongside top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan during opposition 'INDIA' bloc's 'Save Democracy' rally on March 31, 2024 | ANI

The moment emerged as key to Opposition unity for the rest of India's raging election summer.

PM Modi's controversial speech

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks at an election rally in Rajasthan's Banswara on April 21 remained at the center of campaign for the rest of the election season.

He said, “Pehle jab unki sarkar thi, unhone kaha tha ki desh ki sampati par pehla adhikar Musalmano ka hai. Iska matlab, ye sampati ikatthi karke kisko baatenge? Jinke zyada bacche hain, unko baatenge, ghuspaithiyon ko baatenge. Kya aapki mehnat ki kamayi ka paisa ghuspaithiyon ko diya jayega? Aapko manzoor hai yeh? (Earlier, when they (the Congress) were in power, they had said Muslims have the first right to the wealth of the nation. This means they will distribute this wealth to those who have more children, to infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money be given to infiltrators? Do you agree to this)?”

Modi was accused of describing Muslim citizens as "infiltrators", a charge he later denied in a TV interview. But from April 21, the wealth redistribution issue as well as the Opposition's promise to limited reservation on religious lines, became central to the BJP's campaign.

Prajwal Revanna sexual assault row

Days before the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka’s Hassan (April 26), obscene videos of BJP ally Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna involving several women were circulated in his constituency. Revanna was reportedly seen assaulting women. Shortly after Hassan Lok Sabha elections, Revanna, also the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, fled the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Prajwal Revanna (third from left) at an election rally on April 14, 2024 | X/@narendramodi

The investigation into Revanna's sexual assault row remained at the centre of Opposition's agenda throughout the election season. Upon his grandfather Deve Gowda's appeal, Revanna returned to the country during early hours of Friday, May 31 and wasarrested at Bengaluru airport upon his arrival from Germany.

Arvind Kejriwal's release

On May 10, 2024, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was released from the national capital's Tihar jail after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail until June 1 to campaign for the Lok Sabha election.

Upon his release, Kejriwal launched Opposition's strongest-ever election-time assault on Prime Minister Modi. The Delhi chief minister claimed that if re-elected, Modi will remain prime minister just for a year — as he will turn 75 in September 2026 and Modi in past is credited to have ensured that leaders beyond 75 years of age no longer get elected designations of power. Kejriwal added that after Modi turns 75, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be allowed to remain the PM for the rest of the tenure of the 18th Lok Sabha.

Kejriwal's claim immediately put the BJP ondefensive as it ended up showing off PM Modi as BJP's leader in control even "after 2029".

But Arvind Kejriwal's election offensive was damaged by the row that erupted after his Personal Assistant Bibhav Kumar allegedly assaulted AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, reputed as the flagbearer of women's rights within the Aam Aadmi Party. Bibhav Kumar was arrested upon Maliwal's First Information Report (FIR), and the details of alleged physical assault kept the political pot boiling for Kejriwal's limited political stamina ahead of his imminent return to prison on June 2.

Meanwhile, as the final phase ofvoting closed in,Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed his 45-hour-long meditation atthe Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Tamil Nadu's Kanniyakumari on Saturday, June 1. He was on a spiritual visit where he had been meditating at the Dhyan Mandapam, the place where revered Hindu philosopher Swami Vivekananda is believed to have had a divine vision about 'Bharat Mata'.

India voted to elect 543 members of Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament where the party or alliance in majority elects its prime minister. More than 968 million people out of a population of 1.4 billionwere eligible to vote.