Be it Nehru or Modi, returning for a third term is not easy in India

Both the Congress stalwart and BJP leader saw their parties return to power for the third term, though wins were greatly diminished.

Narendra Modi is likely to take the oath of Prime Minister on June 9, marking the start of his third term in office and the return of the BJP-led NDA to power.

The last person to have three consecutive terms as India's Prime Minister was Congress stalwart Jawaharlal Nehru.

The 2024 Lok Sabha election result came as a surprise to many who, going by exit polls, had expected a landslide victory for the NDA. At present, the NDA has secured 293 seats and the I.N.D.I.A. bloc 234.

Experts have commented how the opposition's decision to take up issues impacting the common person like inflation and unemployment had cut into BJP's OBC bank.

Nehru's return for the third term also came on the back of diminished gains as well, since the government under him had begun to face criticisms from the middle of his second term in office.

Chaudhary Charan Singh, still in Congress then, had in 1959 criticised the party's Cooperative Farming Resolution - which pitched pooling individual land holdings without making provisions to mechanise agriculture.

There was also a challenge from Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, India's last governor-general, who had formed Swatantra Party.

Here's a look at how Modi's BJP and Nehru's Congress performed over the three terms and how the leaders performed individually from their seats.

In 2014, Modi's BJP stormed into power with 282 seats. In 2019, the saffron party returned even stronger with 303 seats. However, in 2024, Modi's BJP only managed to secure 240 seats.

Nehru, who first became PM after the 1952 elections, saw his party secure 364 seats. In 1957, Congress improved this tally to 371 seats. However, when Congress returned for a third term, the grand old party only managed 361 seats - a visible fall from the last two terms.

When BJP formed the government in 2014, Modi won the Varanasi seat securing 5,81,022 votes. In 2019, he did even better, getting 6,74,664 seats. In 2024, though Modi won the Varanasi seat, he received 61,694 fewer votes, managing to get 6,12,970. Though Modi has contested from other constituencies like Kashi and Vadodara as well, he has constantly contested from Varanasi all three times.

Nehru got 2,33,571 votes, contesting from Allahabad East-Jaunpur West (now Phulpur) in 1952. In 1957, he secured 2,27,447 votes from Phulpur, and in 1962, Nehru got 1,18,931 votes. Notably, Nehru was still the MP from Phulpur when he died in 1964, necessitating a by election.

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