Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alliance was winning a majority of seats in early vote counting trends in the general election on Tuesday, but well short of the landslide predicted in exit polls.
BJP was in first place on 38.68 per cent with half of votes counted, national election commission data showed. The elections for the 18th LokSabha, spanning seven phases between April 19 and June 1, amid a scorching heatwave, was finally coming to a close Tuesday, as the ballots are counted.
Based on trends released by the Indian election commission, according to The Wire, the BharatiyaJanata Party was leading in 241 seats, the Congress in 99, Samajwadi Party in 35, Trinamool Congress in 31, DravidaMunnetraKazhagam in 21, Telugu Desam Party in 16 as of 2:10 pm India standard time.
In terms of alliances, the BJP’s National Democratic Alliance is leading with 294 seats, above the 272 needed for a lower house parliamentary majority, and the opposition INDIA bloc, led by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress Party, in 191.—INP
