Narendra Modi has ruled India for ten years. He is now only the second prime minister since the republic's founder Nehru to win three consecutive elections. But his electoral success has had a downside: he lost an absolute majority.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured a third term in office in a general election. An alliance led by the Hindu nationalist BJP will form another government, Modi said at the party headquarters and announced major decisions. The government will increase defense production, create jobs for the youth, boost exports and help farmers. However, the BJP lost its absolute majority.
According to the Election Commission on Wednesday, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 286 of the 543 parliamentary seats. India's opposition alliance, led by the Congress Party, is expected to win 230 seats. It needs 272 seats to secure an absolute majority. In the 2019 elections, the BJP itself won an absolute majority with 303 seats. It has now lost more than 60 seats.
Modi said voters had shown great faith in the BJP and its alliance partners. “Today’s victory is a victory for the world’s largest democracy,” he said.
In contrast, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge described Modi as suffering a “moral and political defeat”. “This is a victory for the public and a victory for democracy,” he said.
Modi himself had set a high bar for success in the election campaign: his governing coalition would win more than 400 seats in the lower house and widen its majority, he said. He missed that goal. Nevertheless, the politician was showered with flower petals at a celebration at BJP headquarters. Stock markets suffered their worst losses in four years in response to Modi’s defeat.
The six-week general election in the world’s most populous country is seen as a referendum on Modi, who has ruled for a decade and is now the first head of government since Jawaharlal Nehru to win three consecutive elections in India. Modi has transformed the country’s political landscape, making Hindu nationalism, once a fringe phenomenon, acceptable to the masses but deeply divisive in the country.
His followers see him as a strong leader who has improved India's standing in the world. Critics accuse him of favoring Hindus and fostering intolerance. Despite India's rapid economic growth, inequality in the country has been rising.
Further counting of more than 640 million votes will take until Wednesday.
dpa/ap/shem/kreis
