Modi claims victory in election

NEW DELHI (AP):

Minister Narendra Modi declared victory on Tuesday for his alliance in India’s general election, claiming a mandate to push forward with his agenda, even though his party lost seats to a stronger-than-expected opposition, which pushed back against his mixed economic record and polarising politics.

“Today’s victory is the victory of the world’s largest democracy,” Modi told the crowd at his party’s headquarters, saying Indian voters had “shown immense faith” both in his party and his National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition.

Official results from India’s Election Commission showed the NDA won 286 seats, more than the 272 seats needed to secure a majority but far fewer than had been expected.

Modi’s win was only the second time an Indian leader has retained power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister. But also, for the first time since his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own, winning 240 seats – far fewer than the record 303 it won in the 2019 election.

That means Modi will need the support of other parties in his coalition – a stunning blow for the 73-year-old, who had hoped for a landslide victory.

The party may now be “heavily dependent on the goodwill of its allies, which makes them critical players who we can expect will extract their pound of flesh, both in terms of policymaking as well as government formation,” said Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

More than 640 million votes were cast in the marathon election held over a span of six weeks in the world’s largest democratic exercise.

In the face of the surprising drop in the BJP’s support, challengers claimed they had also won a victory of sorts, with the main opposition Congress Party saying the election had been a “moral and political loss” for Modi.

“This is public’s victory and a win for democracy,” Congress Party President Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters.

Despite the setback, Modi pledged to make good on his election promise to turn India’s economy into the world’s third biggest, from its current fifth place, and not shirk with pushing forward with his agenda.