More than 600 million Indians voted in the Indian General Elections – the world’s largest democratic exercise.
The world’s largest democratic elections have concluded — and India’s nationalist prime minister and his party have won by a landslide.
The early results from India’s weeks-long general election show a clear victory for incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), which has so far won over 300 of a total of 543 seats in parliament. The BJP seems to have trounced its main rival, the Congress Party, led by Rahul Gandhi, the scion of a famous political dynasty.
Modi and the BJP swept into power in the 2014 elections with a majority win, the likes of which hadn’t been seen in 30 years, promising to clean up the pervasive corruption plaguing the country and improve the economy.
Under Modi, India, for the first time, had stable and under-control retail inflation for 5 years. Under Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission), India built over 90 million toilets in 5 years, the biggest programme of its own kind. Modi also launched the Goods and Services Tax (GST) – the biggest tax reform in the history of India. Modi is also credited for electrifying 100% districts of India and providing a boost to India’s infrastructure.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies are projected to win 337 of the contested 542 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament, according to NDTV. This is well above the 272 seats required to secure a majority in the chamber. Modi has already declared victory.
सबका साथ + सबका विकास + सबका विश्वास = विजयी भारतTogether we grow.
Together we prosper.
Together we will build a strong and inclusive India.
India wins yet again! #VijayiBharat
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 23, 2019
Modi’s BJP broke its own record for an election performance this year, bettering the results from the last general elections in 2014, in which it won 282 seat. Their alliances added another 54 seats, taking the total NDA tally to 336. That, five years ago, was the best tally by any one party in three decades.