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Will a reduced mandate for the third consecutive NDA government, set to take oath in two days, curb its reform instincts? Fitch Ratings has said broad policy continuity is expected but with “coalition politics and a weakened mandate” there could be greater reform challenges. Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran, however, thinks otherwise.

With the BJP failing to replicate its 2019 Lok Sabha election success in West Bengal and losing ground to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the fissures in the state unit are once again out in the open, with at least two prominent leaders criticising the state leadership in recent days.

Besides, labourers working on the Central Vista project, staff members from Railways working on making Vande Bharat trains and Vande Metro, transgenders, sanitation workers, Viksit Bharat ambassadors and beneficiaries of central government's welfare schemes are likely to attend the oath-taking ceremony.

Analysts question why market watchdog Sebi did not step in when the PM and the home minister made market-moving statements in the run-up to the elections results being announced; others ask why counting had not been scheduled for Monday when all seven rounds of voting had been completed on Saturday evening.

The humbling of Modi’s party resonates in part as an expression of popular frustration that India remains a land of economic peril for hundreds of millions of people, as well as a country defined by astonishing contrasts in wealth. In major cities, five-star hotels boasting sumptuous spas look down on teeming slums that lack plumbing. In rural areas, malnutrition prevails under many roofs, and families struggle to find the money to keep children in school.

But the party’s biggest test will be over mending its ties with its one-time ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). There is no denying that Nadda’s assertion in the middle of the electoral campaign that the BJP had ‘no need’ of the RSS in its activities, be it elections or other campaigns, was a huge self-goal and one of the principal reasons for the party’s tally crashing to significantly below the majority mark of 272.

The wheel now has turned full circle. In a repeat of 1999, Naidu is backing from a position of strength a weakened Modi, a la Vajpayee. After his first interactions in Delhi, he indicated that the terms of engagement were in the works. Be that as it may, there’s a historical irony about this equation. A votary that he is, like Vajpayee, of “coalition and raj dharma”, Naidu took a very difficult call after the 2002 Gujarat riots to continue backing the government at the Centre. Instead of taking back his outside support, which would’ve brought down the NDA edifice, he allowed himself to be persuaded by Farooq Abdullah who privately argued that with what face would his National Conference stay in the government if Naidu decided to quit.

A closer look at the results explains why Mayawati is resentful towards Muslims. None of the 20 Muslims she fielded could come close to even being the runner-up on any seat. In fact, barring Amroha, which the BJP won after defeating the sitting Muslim MP of the Congress, Kunwar Danish Ali, the BSP’s Muslim candidates did not hurt the INDIA bloc on any seat.

While offering unconditional support to the BJP-led NDA, one of its principal allies Janata Dal United JD(U) on Thursday demanded a review of the 'Agnipath' recruitments, a much-touted scheme by the Centre, under which youth are recruited for four years, However, there is a provision to retain 25% of them for 15 years.

The AAP-Congress pre-poll alliance was aimed at preventing a split in the anti-BJP votes. The AAP had entered into a seat-sharing agreement of 4:3 with its staunch rival. However, the party failed to reverse its fortunes. The BJP continued to prove its dominance in Delhi bagging all seven seats.