New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition is leading as India counts votes.
But trends so far suggest the BJP might fall short of a majority on its own as a united opposition led by the Indian National Congress makes gains. The mammoth seven-phase election – the world’s largest democratic exercise – began on April 19 and ended on Saturday (June 1st).
The BJP, which was the favourite to win the elections, is now struggling to get past the simple majority mark of 272. The party will now have to rely on allies to form a government.
The Hindu nationalist party won 303 seats in 2019 and 282 in 2014. The opposition Congress, which won 52 seats in 2019 and 44 in 2014, has made major gains, though it is still in a distant second place.
Incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won his Lok Sabha seat in Varanasi, according to the election commission. He received 612,970 votes in the polls, 152,513 ahead of his Congress rival Ajay Rai.
Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut is set to enter parliament from Mandi in the northern Himachal
Pradesh state after her opponent, Vikramaditya Singh of the Congress, conceded defeat.
“I congratulate BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut for winning Mandi Lok Sabha seat,” Singh told the ANI news agency.
Ranaut, 37, is a staunch Modi supporter and has recently been seen in films considered propagandist and nationalist by critics.
She told reporters she fought this election “in the name of Narendra Modi”. “It is the result of his credibility and his guarantee and the faith of people in him that we are going to form the government for the third time,” she said.
