Modi faces re-election

Largest election in the world: Hindu nationalists in the lead

After a quarter of the votes have been counted following the parliamentary elections in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party is in the lead with 39.9 percent. However, Modi's victory may not be as high as previously assumed.

As the Election Commission declared on Tuesday, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its coalition partners have at least 281 seats in parliament - more than the 272 required for a majority. 

After six weeks, the world's largest democratic election came to an end in India on Saturday, with more than 968 million people having cast their votes. Prime Minister Modi is on course to secure a third term in office. However, his victory may not be as high as initially assumed after the polling stations closed on Saturday, as the first trends on the day of counting showed, television stations reported on Tuesday.

Still a clear majority
The opposition, led by Rahul Gandhi's Congress Party, could therefore end up with over 200 of the 543 seats in the lower house, far more than the 120 assumed for "INDIA". The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Modi's BJP party, was heading for 300 seats.

The six-week-long voting ended on Saturday. The counting will take place on Tuesday. First, the postal votes were counted. For the first time, older people over 85 and people with disabilities were also allowed to vote by post from home. However, the majority of votes were cast electronically.

Prime Minister declared himself the winner
Modi would be only the second head of government in India to win a third term in office. Only Jawaharla Nehru, the first prime minister after independence from Great Britain in 1947, achieved this before him. In his first statements after the end of the election, Modi declared himself the winner on Saturday. "I can confidently say that the people of India have voted in record numbers for the re-election of the NDA government," he wrote on X, without citing any evidence.

The trends did not go down well in the market. The NIFTY 50 and S&P BSE Sensex indices fell two percent each. The rupee currency also fell against the dollar. On Monday, the markets had rallied on the back of Modi's expected clear victory. They were expecting a two-thirds majority for the NDA.