PM Modi says ‘no contest’ in 2019, predicts NDA will win more than 300 seats

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the NDA would return to power with more than 300 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, declaring in a television interview that there was no contest this time. It was his first broadcast interview since the BJP launched its campaign.

Confidence about the result

Speaking to Republic Bharat editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, Mr Modi said his political experience told him the party would gain significantly compared with last time. People who once had doubts about him now understood his work on national security and the poor, he said, predicting that the BJP would win a full majority with a bigger mandate than in 2014, including in areas where it had been weak.

He argued that the opposition grand alliance was more divided than in 2014 and said voters, having seen 30 years of instability and five years of majority government, wanted a stable government.

Attack on the Congress

Mr Modi alleged that defence deals had served as an ATM for previous Congress governments and said his opponents could not imagine such deals being done transparently. He also attacked dynastic politics, noting that four generations of one family, from Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi, had spoken of removing poverty.

He said he would work with everyone, whether the Congress, Mayawati or Mamata Banerjee, and that the focus was on him because he had been an active Prime Minister who lived among the people.

His campaign began in Meerut the previous day, and he is expected to address more than 150 rallies before the last phase of polling on May 19.

What happened next

When votes were counted on 23 May 2019, the BJP alone won 303 of 543 seats, and Mr Modi was sworn in for a second term on 30 May 2019.

Originally published on 29 March 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us