Hundreds of millions of votes are still being counted in the world’s biggest democratic exercise with results expected over the next few hours into Thursday evening. Some 600 million people were believed to have cast their vote across India over the course of the seven-phase election which lasted seven weeks. Latest results show President Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have stormed ahead, securing more than 300 of the 542 seats available. The BJP party only needed 272 seats to claim a majority in the lower house of parliament and another five-year term.
A spokesman for the opposition Congress party, Jaiveer Shergill, told the BBC he was shocked by the results.
He said: “We didn’t expect this defeat.”
News of the expected win for President Modi sent the Indian rupee strengthening against the US dollar earlier this morning, with the rupee heading toward 69.20.
But by 12.06pm BST, the euthoria had worn off with the rupee pulling back to 70.00.
Indian shares had soared to record highs with the National Stock Exchange index and the Bombay Stock Exchange hitting a level last seen in 2014 after gaining around three percent each.
But these had too lost steam, with the NSE index closing 0.69 percent down, and the BSE ending the trading down minus 0.76 percent.
Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, also a senior BJP leader, said on Twitter the BJP had won a “massive victory”.
GVL Narasimha Rao, a BJP spokesman, added: “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.”
Awhile Bery, South Asia analyst at Eurasia Group, said: “The exit polls released are in line with our belief that Modi’s BJP will be the single largest party, while it will have to rely on allies to form the government.
“However, it is important to recognise that exit polls in India have not had the best history in predicting the elections.”
Final results are due by Thursday evening.
President Modi was under pressure when he began campaigning, losing three state elections in December amid rising anger over farm prices and unemployment.
But sentiment returned to his favour when campaigning shifted towards India’s relationship with Pakistan after a suicide car bomb killed 40 Indian police in the contested Kashmir region in February.
Members of his party now want him to take a harder line on national security, as well as build a controversial temple on the site of a mosque that was demolished by a Hindu mob in Ayodhya in 1992.