Will the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party be able to improve its tally of 282 seats in 2014? Will Rahul Gandhi be able to revive the Congress's fortunes? Here's a look at the past record of both the parties.
They both contested the elections in 1952, with the Congress registering an astounding victory of 364 seats from the 479 contested, whereas the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the earlier incarnation of the BJP, won 3 out of the 94 seats that it contested.
Now, in 2019, what will be the final count of both the parties?
As we await the results on May 23, here's a look at how both the parties have fared in general elections since 1952.
As the graphic shows, the BJP has been seeing a positive trend, with a rise of votes in their favour. From winning just two seats in 1984, it has steadily seen a rise in votes to attain the magical number of 282 in 2014.
It was only in 2004 and in 2009 -- both times that the Congress came to power -- that the BJP saw a downslide in votes.
Never in the Congress's history had it performed as dismally as it did in 2014. With a final count of just 44 seats, this was the Congress's worst performance -- even more poorly than it did after Indira Gandhi called for elections in 1977 after the Emergency and lost. Even then, the Congress was able to win a respectable 154 seats.
Another time that the Congress performed poorly was in 1999 when it lost to the 24-party National Democratic Alliance and registered only 114 seats.
Now, we wait to see how both the national parties perform in 2019.
