The election in India

Modi declares election victory - but looks set to lose majority

India's incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi is confident of victory even though the election looks set to be a disappointment for him, several media reports.

In a post on X, he has declared himself victorious and in a speech he says that the citizens of India have shown "tremendous faith" in his party BJP and his coalition NDA.

- Today's victory is a victory for the world's largest democracy, he says.

In advance, experts believed that Modi would be headed for a clear victory, but with the majority of votes counted, the result rather points to the election being a disappointment for him. His coalition looks to be the largest, but is losing its majority.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's view of the election results is that the people do not want Modi to get a third term in power.
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Modi towards a new victory - more even than expected in the great election

The counting of votes in the largest democratic election in human history has begun. With around half of the votes in the Indian election counted, the coalition NDA looks set to get 298 seats in parliament, the BBC writes at 10 o'clock. 272 seats are enough for a majority.

Many have counted on a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the BJP, and so it seems to be the case. Meanwhile, the opposition coalition INDIA, led by Rahul Gandhi of the old ruling Congress party, has performed better than expected in the election. INDIA looks at 10 o'clock to get 227 seats in Parliament.

642 million Indians have voted in the election, giving a turnout of 66.3 percent.