Social media users are sharing posts which claim that only the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is fighting for an absolute majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, by contesting for more than or equal to 273 seats in the Parliament.
According to the claim, other parties are contesting for seats lower than the number required to form a majority. The party-wise claim is:
The Congress is contesting from 230 seats.
Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (Shiv Sena - UBT) is contesting from 19 seats.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) is contesting from 37 seats.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is contesting from 20 seats, and
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is contesting from 23 seats.
An archive of this post can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
The Quint received a query regarding this claim on its WhatsApp tipline.
(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)
But..?: None of the numbers mentioned in the claim are accurate.
Apart from the BJP, the Congress is also contesting from more than 273 Lok Sabha constituencies.
How did we find out?: We went through the mentioned political parties' websites, social media accounts, and credible media reports to verify the figures presented in the claim.
(Note: All figures mentioned in the report are the latest numbers as on 18 April 2024.)
The BJP is contesting from 348 seats.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
On the BJP's website, we came across lists of candidates that the BJP has nominated from several Lok Sabha constituencies across the country, under the 'Press Releases' section.
As on 18 April, the party had announced 12 lists of candidates, with the latest one being released on 16 April.
After going through each of the announcements individually, we saw that the party had announced candidates on 348 seats, out of a total of 543.
Dainik Jagran's English website carried a report listing all 348 candidates that had been announced. It can be accessed here.
The Congress is contesting from 278 seats.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
Following the same method, we went through press releases on the Congress' website.
Congress' latest announcement was its 18th list of candidates, released on 16 April.
Until 14 April, the party had announced 278 candidates, who are listed in this X (formerly Twitter) post.
On going through all the lists released by the party, we saw that the Congress had announced candidates from 287 seats, which is 14 more than what is required to have a majority in the Lok Sabha.
It should be noted that the party is yet to announce its candidates from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, which will take this number higher.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) is contesting from 21 seats.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
We went through the Shiv Sena (UBT)'s X account, where the party had released its first list on candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on 27 March.
It listed 17 candidates, all from Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra.
On 3 April, the Sena announced four more candidates from Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra, bringing the total to 21.
The SP is contesting from 58 seats.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
In its first list of candidates contesting for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, released on 2 April, the SP listed 40 candidates in an X post.
The RJD announced 22 candidates.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
The RJD, led by former Union Railways Minister and Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, has announced candidates from 22 seats in Bihar for the Lok Sabha elections.
We found the complete list in a X post from the party's account, shared on 9 April 2024.
The DMK is contesting from 21 constituencies.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
The DMK, led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, announced its only list with 21 candidates during a press conference on 20 March 2024.
The NDA and the INDIA Bloc
While the BJP is contesting elections primarily on its own, it also leads the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which includes other parties such as the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena.
The other parties listed in the viral claim are all part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA bloc, which is an alliance of 41 member parties – three national and 38 regional parties.
The alliance first came together in July 2023, formed to counter the BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This coalition effectively offered an alternative to voters, allowing seat-sharing agreements and pooling of votes to oust the BJP.
Conclusion: Apart from the DMK, the claim shows lower figures for each party listed. Moreover, the Congress is also contesting for an absolute majority and has listed candidates from 287 seats as on 18 April.
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