NEW DELHI (dpa-AFX) – According to estimates, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party has a good chance of winning regional elections in three of four key states. Modi’s party, the BJP, is clearly ahead in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, as shown by the Election Commission’s preliminary results on Sunday evening (local time). Experts see this as a trend ahead of next year’s national elections. Modi has already thanked voters. Local elections take place in the state in November.
In two of the three states, the BJP is likely to win against the Congress Party, which will be Modi’s main challenger at the national level in the 2024 elections. The Congress party won in the fourth state, Telangana.
The results make the Congress Party, which dominated Indian politics for decades, look weak at a key juncture, experts say. Modi has been prime minister since 2014 and is expected to seek re-election. Critics say democracy in India has waned under his rule. The BJP won more than 300 of the 543 seats in the lower house in 2019 and governs in about half of India’s states./asg/DP/he
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