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NEW DELHI (AP) India Over 640 million votes Prime Minister Narendra Modi was widely expected to win a third five-year term in office in the world’s largest pro-democracy protests over the past six weeks. Final result It will be announced later Tuesday.
If the 73-year-old Modi wins, he will become only the second Indian leader to retain power for a third term after the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
About three hours after the vote count began, early results released by the Election Commission showed Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party holding a significant lead over the main opposition Indian National Congress party.
Preliminary figures show the BJP is leading in 239 of the 542 constituencies, including one uncontested constituency, while the Congress is leading in 96 constituencies.
The electoral commission has not released data on the percentage of votes that have been counted, but counting is expected to continue throughout the day and early figures are expected to change.
The exit poll Saturday Major television stations predicted a landslide victory for Prime Minister Modi’s National Democratic Alliance party. Opposition coalition It was led by the Indian National Congress and its main campaign leader Rahul Gandhi.
Approximately 642 million People who voted The election recorded an average voter turnout of 66 percent across the seven election phases, according to official data.
As voters headed to polling stations, India was hit by a scorching heat wave, with temperatures topping 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said authorities had learned a valuable lesson. “The elections should have been concluded at least a month ago,” he said. “They should not have been allowed to continue in such extreme heat.”
Temperatures were rather cold on Tuesday, when the vote counting took place, but election officials and political parties took precautions, bringing in large amounts of water and setting up evaporative cooling devices for people outside the buildings where the vote counting was taking place and party headquarters.
Shortly after vote counting began on Tuesday, party workers outside a BJP office in New Delhi held a Hindu ritual, while supporters at the Indian National Congress party headquarters were in high spirits, chanting slogans in praise of Mr Gandhi, the party’s campaign face.
Modi has brought about change during his 10 years in power. Political situation in IndiaWith Mr. Modi’s popularity surpassing that of his parties, parliamentary elections are increasingly being fought like a presidential election, with the BJP relying more on Mr. Modi’s enduring brand to stay in power and local politicians being pushed into the background even in state elections.
“Modi was not just the chief campaigner in this election, he was the only campaigner,” said Yamini Iyer, a public policy scholar.
Supporters see him as a strong, self-made leader who they say has improved India’s global standing, crediting his business-friendly policies with propelling the country to the world’s fifth-largest economy.
But his decade of leadership has deeply divided the country. Modi’s critics and opponents say he Hindu First Politics It has bred intolerance, hate speech and brazen attacks against the country’s minorities, particularly Muslims, who make up 14 percent of the population.
India’s economy, one of the fastest growing in the world, has become more unequal under Modi’s government. The stock market has hit record highs and billionaires have multiplied, while youth unemployment has soared. A small proportion of Indians benefiting from economic growth.
Modi’s critics say India’s democracy is faltering as his government uses increasingly heavy-handed tactics to repress political opponents, clamp down on independent media and stifle dissent – charges the government denies and says democracy is thriving.
When voting began in mid-April, the BJP was initially confident. The focus of the campaign is He spoke of “Prime Minister Modi’s assurances” and touted the economic and welfare achievements his party claims have helped reduce poverty. With him at the helm, “India will be a developed country by 2047,” Modi repeated at every rally.
However, Prime Minister Modi Muslim minoritiesThis is seen as a strategy to energize the party’s core Hindu-majority electorate.
The Indian Union, led by the opposition Indian National Congress party, has attacked Modi for his Hindu nationalist politics and hopes to capitalise on simmering economic discontent, making unemployment, inflation and inequality a central pillar of its campaign.
But the broad coalition of more than a dozen parties has been plagued by ideological differences and defections, raising doubts about its effectiveness. Unfairly TargetedHe said a series of raids, arrests and corruption investigations by federal agents against the country’s leaders were politically motivated, a charge the government denies.
Another victory would cement Modi’s status as one of India’s most popular and influential leaders, following a landslide victory in 2019 in which the BJP won 303 of the 543 seats.
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Associated Press writer David Rising contributed to this report.
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