It’s been a busy evening in India as early results in the nation’s general election indicated that incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may fall short of an outright majority and be reliant on longstanding coalition allies to form a government.
Before votes were counted, Modi and the BJP were hoping for a supermajority of 400 seats in the 543-seat lower house of parliament.
Once the vote count got underway, it became clear that an alliance of opposition parties had performed better than some analysts expected.
Modi has claimed a “historical” victory in a short post on X, but election authorities are still counting votes and full results are expected in the coming hours.
Let bring u up to speed;
- Possible coalition: Early results suggest that Modi’s BJP may have to rely on coalition partners to form a government. Those partners include dozens of right-wing parties from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a BJP-led group that has been in power since his first election in 2014.
- Other unexpected results: The BJP made surprise inroads in the southern state of Kerala. The victory for BJP candidate Suresh Gopi marks the first time the party has won a seat in the state.
- Supermajority fears: Any hopes for a supermajority are fading. A supermajority for the BJP would have enabled it to change the constitution – something that opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said voters had decided against. The BJP has repeatedly denied it has plans to change the constitution. Critics had feared the supermajority would give Modi an unstoppable mandate to further enshrine his Hindu-nationalist agenda, deepening India’s move away from its secular foundations.
- Modi rhetoric: Modi increasingly resorted to overtly Islamophobic language during his election campaign, critics and observers said, as he sought a third straight term governing the world’s most populous nation. The shift in tone is making many Indian Muslims nervous.
- Stocks fall: Indian stocks plunged Tuesday as vote counting in the country’s election suggested Modi’s dream of a landslide victory was at risk. It marked the worst daily drop for Indian stocks since 2020.
CNN
