What went wrong with INDI Alliance? Reasons behind narrow miss in Lok Sabha election 2024 results

The INDI Alliance narrowly missed a majority in the recent Lok Sabha elections due to early missteps. Leadership confusion and internal rifts led to key parties like JDU and TMC exiting. Contentious seat allocation and fragmented campaigns further weakened their efforts. Rectifying these issues might have changed the election outcome.

The INDI Alliance, a coalition formed to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP in the recent Lok Sabha elections, narrowly missed achieving a majority. Analysts suggest that the alliance could have emerged victorious if certain early missteps had been avoided.

One major issue was the confusion surrounding the leadership of the INDI Alliance. Initially, it was unclear who would lead the coalition, leading to internal competition among key parties such as the Congress, JDU, TMC, NCP, DMK, and AAP. This lack of clarity widened internal rifts, causing the Nitish Kumar-led JDU to leave the alliance and rejoin the NDA. Similarly, Mamata Banerjee's TMC exited the INDI Alliance in Bengal.

Seat allocation also became a point of contention. Some major parties opted to contest independently in their states while remaining part of the alliance only at the national level. This fragmented approach hindered the India Alliance's ability to mount a cohesive and large-scale campaign during the elections.

Due to these organizational issues, the INDI Alliance failed to mobilize the expected level of electoral struggle, resulting in them falling just short of the majority. If these initial errors had been rectified, the outcome might have been different for the coalition.