New Delhi (Web Desk): Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party scored a historic victory in India’s general election, his foreign minister said.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is expected to surpass the 272 seats needed to command a majority in the lower house of parliament, six of seven exit polls showed on Sunday.
According to Indian TV channel NDTV, the BJP led alliance is ahead with 324 seats, with the alliance led by Congress with 105 seats. The non-aligned parties currently have 113 seats.
Trends are expected to be known by noon and final results are due by Thursday evening.
The NDA’s predicted margin of victory is 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.
Modi was under pressure when he began campaigning, losing three state elections in December amid rising anger over farm prices and unemployment.
However, campaigning shifted towards India’s relationship with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan after a suicide car bomb killed 40 Indian police in the contested Kashmir region in February, to the benefit of the right-wing BJP, analysts said.