NEW DELHI (AP) – India mattered more than 640 million votes launched over the past six weeks as part of the world’s largest democratic exercise, which was widely expected to hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi a third five-year term when the final result is declared later Tuesday.
If Modi, 73, wins, it would be only the second time an Indian leader has retained power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister.
About three hours after counting began, initial reports from the Election Commission showed Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party comfortably ahead of the main opposition Congress party.
Preliminary figures show that the BJP is leading in 239 out of 542 constituencies and won an uncontested race. The Congress was leading in 96 constituencies.
The Electoral Commission does not release data on the percentage of votes counted, but counting was expected to continue throughout the day and early numbers are expected to change.
Exit the polls SATURDAY by major television channels predicted a big victory for Modi’s National Democratic Alliance group on a opposition alliance led by the Congress party and its main campaign leader, Rahul Gandhi.
Some 642 million people voted in the elections, with an average participation of 66% over the seven phases, according to official data.
Extreme heat hit India as voters went to the polls, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in some parts of the country. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said officials had learned a valuable lesson. “We should have finished the elections at least a month earlier,” he said. “We shouldn’t have let this continue in this much heat.”
Temperatures were a bit lower Tuesday for the counting, but election officials and political parties still took precautions, carrying large quantities of water and installing evaporative coolers for people outside buildings where The votes and seats of the parties were counted.
On Tuesday, BJP workers outside the party office in New Delhi performed a Hindu ritual soon after the counting began. Meanwhile, supporters at the party’s Congress headquarters appeared upbeat and chanted slogans praising Gandhi, the party’s campaign face.
In 10 years in power, Modi has transformed The Indian political landscape. His popularity has surpassed that of his party and transformed a parliamentary election into a campaign that increasingly resembles a presidential-style campaign. The result is that the BJP is increasingly relying on Modi’s enduring brand to stay in power, with local politicians taking a back seat even in national elections.
“Modi was not just the main campaigner, but the only campaigner in this election,” said public policy expert Yamini Aiyar.
His supporters see him as a strong, self-made leader who improved India’s standing in the world and credit his business-friendly policies with making the economy the world’s fifth-largest.
But a decade under his leadership has also left the country deeply divided. Modi’s critics and opponents say his Hindu politics first have spawned intolerance, hate speech and brazen attacks against the country’s minorities, particularly Muslims, who make up 14% of the population.
The Indian economy, one of the most dynamic, has become even more unequal under Modi. As stock markets reach record highs and millionaires multiply, youth unemployment has soared, with only a small part of the Indians benefiting from the economic boom.
Modi’s critics say the country’s democracy is faltering under his government, which has increasingly resorted to heavy-handed tactics to subdue political opponents, stifle independent media and suppress dissent. The government has rejected these accusations and says democracy is flourishing.
As the elections opened in mid-April, an initially confident BJP focused his campaign on “Modi guarantees,” highlighting the economic and social achievements that his party says have reduced poverty. With him at the helm, “India will become a developed nation by 2047,” Modi repeated at rally after rally.
But the campaign became increasingly bitter as Modi stepped up his polarizing rhetoric targeting the government. Muslim minoritya tactic meant to energize its core of majority Hindu voters.
His opposition, the Congress party-led INDIA alliance, has attacked Modi for his Hindu nationalist policies. He hopes to take advantage of latent economic discontent and his campaign has focused on the issues of unemployment, inflation and inequality.
But the broad alliance of more than a dozen political parties has been plagued by ideological differences and defections, raising questions about its effectiveness. At the same time, the alliance also claimed to have been unfairly targeted, highlighting a series of raids, arrests and corruption investigations against their leaders by federal agencies that they say are politically motivated. The government denied this.
Another victory would cement Modi as one of the country’s most popular and important leaders. This would follow a landslide victory in 2019, when the BJP won 303 of the 543 parliamentary seats.
______
AP reporter David Rising contributed to this story.
Gn headline
News Source : apnews.com
