The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party has returned, stronger than before with 303 seats in hand, final results of Indian elections confirm.
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A second straight landslide election defeat for opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised serious questions about his leadership and cast a damaging shadow over one of the world's most prominent political dynasties.
The tarnished party was predicted to get about 50 seats, barely improving the historic low 44 it won in Modi's last landslide in 2014. Congress failed to get a single seat in 13 of the country's 29 state
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A day after counting of votes for India's mammoth election began ─ and Narendra Modi's BJP appeared poised to form government for a second consecutive term ─ Indian newspapers headlined their front pages with news of the hardline party's electoral success.
The BJP has clinched 302 of 542 seats, according to the Election Commission's count at 11:45am.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold talks today to form a new cabinet to tackle a stuttering economy and other challenges facing his second term after winning a big majority.
Official data from the Election Commission showed Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party had won 296 of the 542 seats up for grabs and was ahead in seven more, up from the 282 it won in 2014.
The BJP would have the first back-to-back majority in the lower house of parliament for a single party since 1984. Votes will be fully counted by Friday (today) morning.
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Rahul Gandhi is set to face a backlash from within the main Indian opposition Congress party after it suffered a mauling for a second general election in a row from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party.
The drubbing was so bad that Gandhi himself lost the traditional family seat in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
As vote-counting trends showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning more than 300 seats against just 49 for Congress, current and former party officials blamed a lacklustre campaign and a failure to overhaul its top team.
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With India’s ruling Hindu nationalists headed for a stunning election victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s powerful right hand man, Amit Shah, could reap his reward as a potential home minister, an analyst and a party official said.
“Modi and Shah work in tandem,” said a BJP official who has worked closely with the steely-eyed 54-year-old Shah.
Shah, who has long been Modi’s backroom strategist, helped run one of India’s most divisive election campaigns over the past six weeks to rouse the Bharatiya Janata Party’s nationalist base and overcome the loss of key state elections in December.
Their efforts blunted voter discontent at lack of jobs and farm distress by portraying the opposition as weak and indecisive at best and at worst, appeasing minority Muslims and arch foe Pakistan, to deftly exploit national security fears.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take his oath and begin his second term on Tuesday (May 28), according to Indian publication The Print.
BJP’s cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir is enjoying a healthy lead of 63,500 votes over his rivals in their East New Delhi constituency, according to Indian publication The Quint.
Jobs, farmers, pollution, Hindu hardliners and foreign policy are the five major challenges AFP has identified for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his second term, which he is on the cusp of securing.
To read in detail what these challenges are, click here.
Actor Sunny Deol officially won from his constituency in Gurdaspur with a margin of 82,459 votes, Scroll.in reports.
"“I was confident that people of this constituency love me a lot and will ensure my victory,” he said and vowed to work for the well being of his voters.
BJP President Amit Shah emerged victorious from the Gandhinagar constituency, where he defeated Congress' C.J Chavda by a margin of more than 550,000 votes, Times of India reports.
The Indian Election Commission has announced official results of the constituencies in east and north east Delhi, Scroll.in reports. Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who was contesting from the East Delhi constituency on BJP's ticket, won by a margin of 391,222 votes, defeating Congress' Arvinder Singh Lovely.
Meanwhile, Manoj Tiwari, BJP's Delhi unit's president, defeated Congress' Sheila Dikshit.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to swear oath for his second term as premier on May 28, The Print reports.
Modi's party BJP is leading the vote count on a majority of seats and is all set to return to power with a historic majority and the premier has officially won in the Varanasi constituency.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi defeated BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh in the Raebareli constituency by 167,178 votes, Times of India reported. She received 534,918 votes, as opposed to Pratap who managed to gather 367,740 votes.
Her victory comes hours after her son Rahul Gandhi conceded defeat in his home constituency Amethi.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to extend BJP's reach to every state in the country in the upcoming five years, Scroll.in reported.
“The next five years of PM Modi’s term will be the age of BJP’s expansion,” he declared.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi retained his seat in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, where he defeated Samajwadi Party's Shalini Yadav by more than 400,000 votes, Times of India reported.
This is a marked increase from 2014, when Modi had won the seat by a margin of 371,784 votes.
Former chief minister of Indian-occupied Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti lost to retired judge Hasnain Masoodi by almost 10,000 votes in the Anantnag constituency, Times of India reported, quoting unnamed officials.
National Conference party's Masoodi, who was contesting his maiden elections, gathered 40,180 votes while Mufti was able to receive 30,524 votes.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to supporters at BJP headquarters in Delhi, insisted that he "might make mistakes, but won't ever act maliciously".
He also vowed to take his country forward and said that it was time to "look ahead and take everybody along including our rivals".
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an address to supporters at the BJP headquarters in Delhi, said that after the party's stunning performance in the elections the "political pundits of India will have to change their 20th century mindset".
"This is the India of the 21st century," he declared.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an address to his supporters in BJP's headquarters in Delhi, declared that the Indian elections were not being contested by politicians but the people of India.
He congratulated his party for its astounding performance in the elections and thanked his voters for coming out to cast their ballots despite high temperatures.
"Since the country got independence, so many elections took place, but the maximum voting took place in this election and that too in 40-42 degree temperature."
Amit Shah, president of BJP's Delhi chapter, says that Indian voters have served Congress with a "chastening defeat" in the Indian elections. He is addressing BJP supporters in Delhi.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also address supporters today.
Pragya Thakur, a BJP candidate who was accused of terrorism for her alleged involvement in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, is on her way to victory in India's central city of Bhopal by a huge margin, Reuters reports.
Thakur received 69 per cent more votes than her opponent, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.
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BJP's astounding performance in the Indian elections is a "victory of Hindu nationalism", says Swaminathan Aiyar, the consulting editor of ET Now in an interview to Economic Times.
"It is worth emphasising this election was not on economic policy, this is a victory of Hindu nationalism and if you like, it is the victory of Modi’s success on a certain kinds of welfarism. Anybody who thought that he is going to be a new Ronald Regan has been wrong."
"Hindu nationalism has won the day and all the other issues I think are number two, number three all the way down to number 10," he added.
BJP candidate actor Ravi Kishan won from the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency by 301,664 votes, the Indian Election Commission said.
Indian right-wing Hindu nationalist party Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have lauded BJP's performance in the elections and termed it as the "triumph of national forces", Time of India reported.
"Many compliments to each and everyone who have contributed to this victory of democracy. The spirit and ideal of democracy have once again been established for the world to witness," the news outlet quoted RSS General Secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi.
RSS is largely seen as the ideological parent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP party.
The 68-year-old Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has carefully constructed an image of himself as a pious man of the people, a would-be monk called to politics who has elevated India’s status globally, says a feature by The Associated Press.
The feature notes how Modi used social media and religion as tools to maintain his popularity among his voter base.
"The cult has been fueled by a social media blitzkrieg. There was NaMo TV and a NaMo app. Like US President Donald Trump, to whom he is often compared, Modi is a big fan of Twitter, using it and a YouTube channel managed by the BJP to bypass traditional media."
Read the complete feature here.
After the BSE Sensex touched an all-time high of 40,000 points during intra-day with news of Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s decisive lead in the Lok Sabha polls, the 30-share index plunged 298.82 points, or 0.76 percent to close at 38,811.39 at end of trading, Firstpost reported.
The Sensex shed early gains after investors booked profits after stocks soared to record highs after BJP's strong showing in the Lok Sabha polls.
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Congress President Rahul Gandhi conceded defeat in his home constituency of Amethi, saying that "I respect the decision and congratulate Smriti Irani ji."
He declined to comment on the reasons behind Congress' disastrous performance in the Indian elections and said that: "People of India have clearly decided that Narendra Modi is going to be their prime minister and as an Indian I respect that."
As BJP continues to lead the Indian vote count, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman warns that the right-wing party's landslide victory would "mean a tougher neighbourhood for Pakistan".
"Exit polls India foretell a BJP landslide. If these polls r close to final count it will mean a tougher neighbourhood for Pakistan. The new BJP’s mandate, among other things is extremism, exclusion. [Islamabad] has a sweet tooth for Modi mithai but translating
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked voters for their "faith placed in [BJP] alliance". He also lauded BJP workers for their "determination, perseverance and hardwork".
"Thank you India! The faith placed in our alliance is humbling and gives us strength to work even harder to fulfil people's aspirations.
"I salute every BJP Karyakarta for their determination, perseverance and hardwork. They went home to home, elaborating on our development agenda."
Mehbooba Mufti, former chief minister of Indian-occupied Kashmir, lost in the Anantnag constituency Times of India reported. A BJP supporter claimed that the Indian electorate had
Earlier, she had tweeted that she "accepts [the voters'] verdict with humility".
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is leading in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency, expressed his frustration over his party's disappointing performance in the Indian elections using a cricket analogy.
"As my lead nears 50,000 with 72% counted, i feel like a batsman who has scored a century while his team has lost! It's a bittersweet emotion I will take some time to reflect on," Tharoor tweeted. In another tweet, he said that he was "sad and disappointed about the national picture".
Hindu nationalist party Shiv Sena, that formed an alliance with the BJP in the 2014 Indian elections, claims that no one would be able to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the next 25 years, the Times of India reports.
Modi's party BJP continues to lead in majority of Lok Sabha constituencies.
Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) candidate Udasi S.C. has won a seat in Havari constituency in southwest Karnataka state, CNN reported. He won by a margin of 140,882 votes.
This is the first official result that has been declared since the vote count started seven hours ago.
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