Archive · 7 Oct 2026
Modi’s Personal Appeal Still Shapes NDA’s Electoral Advantage
This article asks how much Narendra Modi helps his party win votes.
It uses survey estimates to separate votes linked to Modi personally from votes the BJP might get anyway.
The estimates say Modi’s pull was strongest in 2019 and smaller in 2024.
But the NDA’s lead over its opponents also became much narrower by 2024.
The author says that makes Modi’s personal appeal more important to the coalition, even if it has cooled.
The article estimates the NDA received about 1.5 crore more votes than the INDIA bloc in 2024.
It argues that removing votes linked to Modi could have erased that advantage.
These figures are the author’s interpretation of survey and election data, and the piece says future state elections may offer further clues.
The opinion article says Narendra Modi completed 25 years in public service on October 7, with the BJP organizing month-long celebrations.
Citing CSDS post-poll surveys, it estimates that Modi attracted 20% of BJP votes in 2014, 25% in 2019 and 27% in 2024.
The article estimates Modi-attributed votes accounted for 63% of the NDA’s lead over the UPA in 2014 and 77% of its lead in 2019.
In 2024, the NDA’s lead over the INDIA bloc was about 1.5 crore votes, while the article estimates roughly 7.1 crore votes were attributable to Modi.
The author argues Modi’s personal appeal has softened since 2019, but the NDA has become more dependent on it as its overall advantage narrowed.
- Who
- Narendra Modi, the BJP, the NDA and the INDIA bloc.
- What
- An opinion analysis of Modi’s estimated effect on BJP and NDA vote totals and electoral margins.
- When
- It discusses the 2014, 2019 and 2024 general elections and says Modi completed 25 years in public service on October 7.
- Where
- India.
- Why
- To assess whether Modi’s personal appeal is fading and how much the NDA depends on it.
- Modi-attributed BJP votes
- Estimated at 20% in 2014, 25% in 2019 and 27% in 2024, according to CSDS post-poll surveys cited in the article.
- NDA lead in 2014
- The article estimates the NDA received 8.7 crore more votes than the UPA.
- Modi’s estimated share of NDA lead, 2014
- About 63%.
- NDA lead in 2019
- About 11 crore votes over the UPA, according to the article.
- Modi’s estimated share of NDA lead, 2019
- About 77%.
- NDA–INDIA bloc lead in 2024
- About 1.5 crore votes, according to the article.
- Modi-attributed votes in 2024
- Estimated at about 7.1 crore.