New Delhi, May 23: Narendra Modi will be India’s prime minister again after his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looked set for a landslide win on Thursday in the world’s biggest general election.
With all 542 seats reporting, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was ahead in 331 seats, a near-repeat of its remarkable 2014 win, and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was ahead in 106.
Exit polls released last week pointed to a large victory for the BJP, which would enable them to create history with back-to-back clear mandates.
After an early scare, Congress president Rahul Gandhi was leading his main rival Smriti Irani in the Gandhi family bastion of Amethi, though the BJP looked to confound all expectations by repeating their 2014 landslide in India’s most populous state. Rahul was leading in his second seat, Wayanad in Kerala.
Elections were held to 542 seats, with the poll in Vellore constituency cancelled. A simple majority is 272 seats.
Stock markets cheered the verdict, with the Bombay Sensex climbing 2.6% or 1,000 points, breaching the 40,000 mark for the first time in history.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, seen as a key member of any opposition formation that could counter Modi, was getting wiped out in his own state, where assembly elections were held. He was trailing by eight seats to 167 against Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP party. In the Lok Sabha elections in his state, Naidu was trailing 2-23 against Reddy.
In Karnataka, the BJP was heading for a near-sweep, ahead in 25 seats out of 28. This could threaten the survival of the JD(S)- Congress coalition in the state.
In Bengal, the BJP looked set to make history, overtaking the Trinamool party of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
At the Centre, the BJP’s campaign has been centred around Modi, who managed to make this a presidential-type election.
Congress created a minor flutter with a well-thought-out manifesto but soon lost its way in the face of an aggressive and sometimes cynical campaign by the BJP that fully exploited the leniency of the Election Commission. The BJP is also likely to have gained from retaliatory air strikes against Pakistan after a terror attack in Kashmir, and a strong showing on the infrastructure front.
Like him or loathe him, Modi is seen as a strong and decisive leader, and voters may have leant towards a clear and stable choice versus the possible chaos that could follow an opposition victory, with many claimants for the top job.
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