According to the latest polls and early results, The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in nearly 340 of the 542 seats that went to the polls. Narendra Modi’s foreign minister said on Thursday he had won the election, giving his party a mandate to pursue policies that put Hindus first, are mainly business-friendly and take a hard line on national security. Mr Modi’s BJP party is leading in all seven New Delhi seats, according to early trends from the Election Commission.
Voting is spread across India’s 29 states and seven additional, smaller territories, known as union territories.
Some areas carry more weight than others because of the number of Lok Sabha constituencies in each state or union territory, something that’s based on how populous they are.
The bigger the state, the more seats it has.
Official data from India’s Election Commission showed Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead in 294 of the 542 seats available – far more than the 272 seats needed for a majority.
Read More: India election 2019 results: Exit polls predict clear majority for PM
This would give it the first back-to-back majority for a single party since 1984.
The main opposition Congress Party was ahead in 50 seats, figures showed.
Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, also a senior BJP leader, said on Twitter the BJP had won a “massive victory”.
The mood was upbeat at BJP headquarters in New Delhi, with party workers setting off firecrackers and cheering as TV channels reported the margin of victory.
GVL Narasimha Rao, a BJP spokesman said: ”It’s a huge mandate for positive politics and the policies of Narendra Modi.
“It’s a huge win for India. We are humbled by the magnificence of this victory.”
Meanwhile, Congress leaders were sombre. Spokesman Salman Soz said: ”It’s obviously not in our favour at all.
“We need to wait for the full results but right now it doesn’t look good.”
NDTV and rival channel CNN News 18 has called the election for Modi’s coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The NDA’s predicted margin of victory is much larger than surveys indicated in the run-up to the vote when most polls showed it would be the largest alliance but would fall short of an overall majority.
Final results are due by Thursday evening.
Latest seats at the time of writing
- BJP – 296
- INC – 51
- YSRCP – 25
- AITC – 22
- DMK – 21
- SHS – 28
- JD(U) – 16
- BSP – 13
- BJD – 12