Year of saffron surge, Cong revival and rise of JMM, NC

It would not be an exaggeration to sum up 2024 as the year of serial elections, unprecedented verdicts, aggressive identity politics and growing chasm between the ruling and opposition sides.

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For most part this year, the country was under the Model Code of Conduct as it witnessed the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, besides eight Assembly poll, 59 state and two parliamentary bypolls. Continuing saffron surge, moderate Congress revival and strong emergence of non-Congress parties in the Opposition space was the broad message at the hustings.

Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ruling BJP became the first party in 62 years to retain power at the Centre for the third consecutive term.

Only this time — unlike in 2014 and 2019 when it secured mammoth mandates — the BJP was restricted below a simple majority in the Lok Sabha and had to seek out allies to form the government.

Just when it appeared India was veering towards one-party dominance, the voters re-established the relevance of coalition politics for both the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and opposition Congress-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Without allies, both BJP and Congress would have floundered in their respective missions.

The Congress managed to win 99 LS seats (against 52 in 2019 and 44 in 2014), seeing a revival nationally. However, it could succeed in halting Modi’s solo march only as part of a 26-party INDIA bloc, which secured 230 of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha.

The BJP alone won 240 seats and reached 293 — beyond the Lok Sabha’s magic mark of 272 — with major pre-poll allies, including the TDP, JDU and Shiv Sena, backing it.

Of the eight state and UT polls held this year, BJP and allies took six — Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, Maharashtra and Haryana.

INDIA partners won Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, where non-Congress Opposition — Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference, respectively — powered the victories.

The Congress, on its own, failed to impress. It even lost Haryana, where it was anticipated to win..

The NDA also dominated the Assembly byelections, clinching 30 of the 59 held this year. The Congress, however, bagged both LS bypolls. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made her electoral debut from Wayanad, while Ravindra Chavan won Maharashtra’s Nanded constituency for the party.

While elections — a key indicator of a working — concluded peacefully, accusations of EVM fraud and voter list manipulations marred the political landscape like never before.

The Election Commission found itself fielding related petitions in the apex court at the height of LS poll cycle and later within the poll body as Congress and allies alleged discrepancies in EVMs and voter lists in Haryana and Maharashtra.

The Opposition also found itself cornered on the issue of alleged corruption, with 2024 witnessing the unusual spectre of two chief ministers of non-BJP ruled states being jailed on accusations of graft.

AAP chief and then Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was jailed over excise scam and Soren in an alleged land scam. Both secured bails later.

As the INDIA bloc raged against the BJP over the alleged use of probe agencies to target its leaders and later over the alleged insult of BR Ambedkar, the chasm between the ruling and opposition sides widened like never before.

This constant state of conflict manifested in an unprecedented scuffle during the winter session of Parliament, which saw Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi being booked for alleged assault of two BJP lawmakers.

In between these dramatic events, the country saw the historic consecration of Lord Ram’s idol at Ayodhya, capping decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi movement and triggering multiple Hindu claims over mosques across the country.

The frequency of these claims prompted even RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to discourage those seeking parity between Ayodhya and other sites.

On the Opposition side, identity politics was mostly dominated by calls for a caste census, a demand Rahul Gandhi led most vociferously through 2024.

Notably, the year began with Soren’s arrest in January and ended with an FIR against Rahul.

The controversial ‘One Nation, One Election’ and Waqf Law Amendment Bills that came to the Lok Sabha further alienated the Opposition with treasury ranks pushing parliamentary democracy towards a totally uncharted path.