Indian Prime Minister Modi and his allies were heading for victory on Tuesday, but with a reduced majority in parliament.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies moved towards victory on Tuesday, but with a reduced majority in parliament. The main opposition party emerged stronger, according to data from the election commission.

Analysts and opinion polls predicted a landslide victory for Modi and his party, whose campaign appealed to the Hindu majority but disappointed religious minorities.

But for the first time in a decade, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is unlikely to win a majority alone, without relying on its coalition allies, according to election commission figures.

In contrast, the main opposition party, the Congress, appears poised to double its parliamentary seats, a remarkable turnaround thanks to an agreement to field a single candidate against the BJP.

According to figures from the election commission after counting three-quarters of the ballots, the BJP and its coalition members will win at least 286 seats, more than the 272 needed to gain a parliamentary majority in the 543-seat lower house. .

Officials counted the votes.Image: www.imago-images.de

The BJP, with 38.1% of the vote, leads with just 242 seats, according to the election commission's partial results, well below the 303 seats it won in 2019. By contrast, the Congress would win 99 seats versus 52 five years. earlier.

Final results will arrive overnight

Celebrations have begun at the BJP headquarters. But the headquarters of Congress, the main opposition party, was also jubilant. “The BJP itself failed to get a majority,” Congress MP Rajeev Shukla told reporters:

In previous elections, the main trends were usually clear in the afternoon, with the losing party having to admit defeat, although full and final results may not be available until Tuesday evening.

Modi fan.Image: www.imago-images.de

Modi, 73, who remains popular after two terms in office, said this weekend that “the people of India voted in large numbers” to re-elect him, after a decade as the country's leader.

Problems with the system

The prime minister's opponents, sometimes paralyzed by internal infighting, are fighting against the power of his party and accusing the government of exploiting justice for political purposes by increasing the number of prosecutions against them.

The American foundation Freedom House also estimates that the BJP has done so “increasing use of government agencies to target political opponents.”

Opposition parties and human rights advocates denounced the rollback of democracy and accused Modi of siding with Hindus, the majority in the country, to the detriment of minority groups, including India's 210 million Muslims, who fear for their future.

Instead, Modi accused the Congress of wanting to distribute “national wealth” to “infiltrators”, “to those who have many children”, thus pointing the finger at the Muslim community.

Angered, the opposition contacted the election authorities who did not sanction the Prime Minister. However, India is constitutionally secular and its election rules prohibit any campaigning based on “communal sentiments”.

Around 642 million Indians voted in this election which took place in seven phases over six weeks. Based on 968 million voters recorded by the KPU, 66.3% of voters took part in voting, down one percentage point compared to 67.4% participation in the 2019 general election (jah/ats).