Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition is leading as India counts votes. But trends so far suggest the BJP might fall short of a majority on its own as a united opposition led by the Indian National Congress makes gains.
The mammoth seven-phase election – the world’s largest democratic exercise – began on April 19 and ended on Saturday.
A party or coalition needs 272 seats to cross the majority mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament. Exit polls said Modi could return to power for a third consecutive term.
The Election Commission says a record-breaking 642 million voters cast their ballots in the staggered election as it dismissed opposition concerns over how the votes would be counted. However, the voter turnout this year was 66.3 percent, about one percentage point lower than 2019.
As per Indian media, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in 220 seats, the Congress in 121, Samajwadi Party in 35, Trinamool Congress in 30, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in 21, Telugu Desam Party in 16 as of 2:10 pm India standard time.
In terms of alliances, the BJP’s National Democratic Alliance is leading with 272 seats, above the 272 needed for a lower house parliamentary majority, and the opposition INDIA bloc, led by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress Party, in 210.
