Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alliance was heading for a narrow majority as vote counting in the general election neared completion on Tuesday. This was a surprising setback for the populist leader, falling well short of the expected landslide victory.
Trends indicated that Modi’s own Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was short of a majority in the 543-member parliament. Relying on allies to form a government could introduce some uncertainty into policymaking after a decade of Modi’s authoritative rule.
The BJP secured a majority on its own in 2014, ending India’s era of unstable coalition governments, and repeated this feat in 2019.
In his first comments since the vote counting began, Modi noted that the public had placed their faith in the BJP-led coalition for a third time, calling it historic.
“The blessings of the people for the third time after 10 years boost our morale and give us new strength,” Modi told cheering BJP members at party headquarters in New Delhi. “Our opponents, despite being united, could not even win as many seats as the BJP.”
Promising to work harder and take “big decisions,” Modi listed electronics, semiconductors, defense manufacturing, renewables, and the farm sectors as areas of special focus in his third term, without elaborating.
Commentators and exit polls had projected an overwhelming victory for Modi, whose campaign appealed to the Hindu majority, raising concerns among the country’s 200-million-plus Muslim community about minority rights.
The main opposition Congress party was set to nearly double its parliamentary seats in a remarkable turnaround, largely due to strategic deals to field single candidates against the BJP’s electoral machine.
With more than 99 percent of votes counted, the BJP’s vote share stood at 36.6 percent, slightly lower than in the 2019 elections.
Modi was re-elected to his constituency representing the Hindu holy city of Varanasi by a margin of 152,300 votes, compared to nearly half a million votes five years ago.
Election commission figures showed the BJP and its allies on track to win at least 291 seats out of a total of 543, enough for a parliamentary majority. However, the BJP itself had won or was leading in only 240 seats, down from the 303 it secured five years ago, while Congress had won or was ahead in 99 seats, up from 52.
Among the independent lawmakers elected were two currently serving time in jail: firebrand Sikh separatist preacher Amritpal Singh, and Sheikh Abdul Rashid from Indian-occupied Kashmir, who was arrested on charges of “terror funding” and money laundering in 2019.
The elections for the 18th Lok Sabha, spanning seven phases from April 19 to June 1 amid a scorching heatwave, were finally coming to a close as the ballots were counted.
