According to preliminary results, Prime Minister Modi's party has won a majority of votes in India's elections. Nevertheless, this election will be a disgrace for Modi.

Update from June 4, 15:52: After the majority of votes in India's elections were counted, one thing became clear: current Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerged victorious, but did not achieve the goals he had set for himself. Based on the results so far, he secured 240 of the 543 seats. Modi's BJP party needs 272 seats to maintain its current majority. So Modi may need the support of other parties to become India's prime minister again. Therefore, this election will be a disgrace for Modi as the predicted landslide victory will not happen.

Elections in India: First results – Modi survives, opposition gains ground

New Delhi – In the parliamentary elections in India, victory emerged for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been in office for ten years. As announced by the Election Commission in India on Tuesday (June 4), Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading with around 38 percent after 75 percent of the votes were counted. This would once again make it the strongest political force.

Elections in India: Based on preliminary results, Modi's performance is worse than expected

However: Compared to the 2019 elections, the Modi-led government alliance will likely have to absorb significant losses. The opposition showed a much better performance compared to 2019.

According to partial results published by the Election Commission, the coalition under Modi's BJP won at least 280 of the 543 seats in parliament in New Delhi. Five years ago, 353 MPs from the BJP and its allies managed to enter parliament. In view of the opposition's excellent performance, India's leading index Sensex temporarily fell seven per cent on the bourses on Tuesday.

Based on the initial election results in India, Modi was accused of dismantling democracy

The first results of India's election also show that Modi remains popular among much of the population even after a decade in power and now faces a third term in office in the world's most populous country. Internal power struggles and politically motivated criminal proceedings have weakened the opposition. International human rights groups have long complained about the decline of democracy in India.

Modi will most likely win India's election – his main opposition rival is in prison

Modi's main political rival, the head of the capital Delhi government, Arvind Kejriwal, is in prison. He was jailed on corruption charges in March, shortly before general elections began.

Kejriwal, who denies any wrongdoing, has been released from detention to contest the election. Before returning to prison, he said: “When power becomes dictatorship, then a prison sentence is a sign of responsibility.”

Elections in India: Modi opposes Muslims and takes a Hindu nationalist path

Opposition and human rights groups have also accused Modi of siding with the country's Hindu majority. During the election campaign, Modi described his country's 210 million Muslims as “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”. Complaints from the opposition against the head of government have no consequences.

Modi himself accused the main opposition party (INC) of wanting to redistribute his country's wealth to Muslim households. India is a secular country. According to election law, campaigns aimed at creating public opinion against certain groups of society are prohibited.

In the ten years of the Modi government, India has become an important foreign policy partner. Western countries view the country as an important equalizer China seen and is an important trading partner, partly because of its digital economy.

Modi maintained good relations with Russia before the Indian elections

Modi is investing billions of dollars to secure the border with China. In 2020 there was a short military conflict between two major Asian powers in the border area. Nevertheless, the two countries are important economic partners. India also maintains good relations with Russia. In the future, Modi targets India to have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

The general election in India is the largest democratic election in the world. As of Saturday, more than 968 million people had been called to vote over six weeks. The calculation is carried out using a special calculating computer. Final results are expected to be obtained the following day.

Heat wave in India causes low voter turnout in elections

Voter turnout was 66.3 percent, compared to 67.4 percent in 2019. The slightly lower turnout was also due to the heat wave India is currently experiencing. In Uttar Pradesh state alone, at least 33 poll workers died of heat stroke on Saturday, the final day of the general election. (high school)