By YP Rajesh, Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Shivam Patel
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance raced to a clear majority in the 543-member lower house on Tuesday, TV channels showed.
The channels showed that the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was ahead with over 300 seats, while the BJP alone was ahead with 255 seats. The opposition INDIA alliance, led by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress Party, led with 172 seats, while the Congress alone led with 71 seats.
Based on initial trends, the Republic TV channel called the vote in favor of Modi, the first to do so.
The first votes to be counted are postal ballots, which are paper ballots, usually cast by troops serving away from their home constituencies or by officials away from home on election duty.
This year, postal votes were also offered to voters over 85 and people with disabilities, allowing them to vote from home.
The counting is expected to take several hours as the vast majority of votes polled in electronic voting machines or EVMs are recorded after the first 30 minutes of counting of postal ballots.
“These are very early trends, we will see better results as the day progresses,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.
TV exit polls broadcast after voting ended on June 1 predicted a major win for Modi, but exit polls in India have often misrepresented election results. Nearly a billion people were registered to vote, of which 642 million showed up.
However, if Modi’s victory is confirmed, his BJP will have triumphed in a vicious campaign in which parties accused each other of religious prejudice and of posing a threat to parts of the population.
Investors have already cheered the prospects of a new Modi term, expecting it to bring years of strong economic growth and pro-business reforms, while a possible two-thirds majority in parliament could allow major changes to the constitution rivals and critics fear.
“The most important task of the next government will be to put India on the path to becoming rich before it grows older,” the Times of India newspaper said in an editorial on Tuesday, referring to the young working-age population in the most populous country in the world. “The clock is ticking.”
MARKETS CHEERING
Indian shares fell at the open after Monday’s sharp rise as traders said there was some nervousness on the margin of victory.
The NIFTY 50 was down 2.2% at 0345 GMT and the S&P BSE Sensex was down 1.8%.
TV exit polls released on Saturday after voting ended predicted the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance could win a two-thirds majority in the 543-member lower house of parliament.
Several major polls predicted that the BJP alone could win more than the 303 it won in 2019.
The projections pushed Indian shares to a record high on Monday, as the rupee rose and bond yields fell.
Nearly a billion people were eligible to vote in the seven-phase, seven-week poll, which began on April 19 and was held in scorching summer heat with temperatures reaching nearly 50° Celsius (122° Fahrenheit) in some parts.
More than 66% of registered voters turned out, just one percentage point lower than in the previous election in 2019, allaying concerns raised in the pre-poll round that voters could avoid a contest that was thought to be a foregone conclusion. Modi’s advantage would be.
The 73-year-old Modi, who first came to power in 2014 by promising growth and change, is trying to be only the second prime minister, after Indian independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, to win three terms in a row.
He began his campaign by showcasing his record during his time in office, including economic growth, welfare policies, national pride, Hindu nationalism and his own personal commitment to delivering on promises he called “Modi’s Guarantee”.
However, he changed course after low turnout in the first-phase elections and accused the opposition, especially the Congress Party which leads an alliance of 20 groups, of favoring India’s 200 million Muslims – a shift that analysts say will undermine the campaign. and sowed division.
They said the pivot may have been aimed at galvanizing the Hindu nationalist base of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to get them to vote. Modi defended himself against criticism that he was stoking divisions between Hindus and Muslims to win votes, saying he was only criticizing the opposition campaign.
The opposition INDIA Alliance, led by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party, denied favoring Muslims in the Hindu-majority country and said Modi would destroy the constitution if returned to power and end the positive action of the so-called backward castes. The BJP rejects this.
(Reporting by bureaus in New Delhi and Mumbai; Writing by YP Rajesh; Editing by Michael Perry and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
