Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created history.
It would be the first time in 48 years that an incumbent Prime Minister, heading a majority government, would be voted to power again with a majority.
On May 17, PM Modi in a press conference expressed his confidence that his government would return to power will full majority. He said it would be as big a milestone in India’s electoral history as his victory in 2014.
In 2014, the BJP had won 282 seats in the Lok Sabha. It was the first time in three decades that any party acquired an absolute majority.
"It is after a long time that a majority government, after completing its full five-year term, will again attain a victory. This will be a very significant event," Modi remarked.
The last time an incumbent PM returned to power was in 1971 when Indira Gandhi led the Congress to victory with a full majority after having done the same in 1967 (for the United Congress).
Indira Gandhi also managed to get a clear majority for two more terms in 1971 and then in 1980.
There have been two more cases of a prime minister returning to power in successive elections ---- Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999 and Manmohan Singh in 2009. In both terms, the BJP and Congress had to rely on support of allies to cross the halfway mark in the Lok Sabha.
